Arsenal twice comes from behind to hold Man City

Arsenal twice fought back to hold Manchester City 2-2 in the Premier League yesterday after the attacking resilience of Arsene Wenger’s side was undermined by defensive deficiencies.

Although goals from Theo Walcott and Shkodran Mustafi prevented Arsenal from sinking to a fifth loss in six league games, the failure to collect three points further damages the team’s bid to qualify for the Champions League.

Arsenal remains seven points behind fourth-placed City, albeit with a game in hand over Pep Guardiola’s side. For City, which led through Leroy Sane and then Sergio Aguero, it is now about locking down a Champions League spot rather than winning the league trophy for the first time since 2014.

Chelsea gave title rivals a glimmer of hope by losing to Crystal Palace on Saturday, but City is 11 points behind the leaders with nine games left.

Guardiola has time to turn it around at City with the Spaniard in his first season in charge. Patience is wearing thin at Arsenal, though, with the title drought in its 13th year.

Arriving at the Emirates Stadium can now resemble attending a political protest movement. There are street rallies against the long-standing immovable leader and trucks carrying campaign messages.

Gauging how deep the feelings run against Wenger is hard to assess. One supporters’ trust published a survey earlier in the week that showed a clear majority of fans want the manager to leave, but it yielded only a few hundred responses.

Inside the 60,000-capacity stadium, there was more apathy than anger throughout the game in the spring sunshine - even after conceding within five minutes of kickoff.

Kevin De Bruyne picked out the run of Sane with a long ball and the German outpaced Hector Bellerin, then rounded goalkeeper David Ospina before slotting in his eighth goal of the season.

This should have been a game when City was more susceptible in defence with Jesus Navas deployed as a makeshift right back but Arsenal was producing little to unsettle goalkeeper Willy Caballero.

It did take a defensive muddle for Arsenal to equalise five minutes before halftime.

Nicolas Otamendi’s poor clearance was seized on by Mustafi who headed high over the defence and, as Gael Clichy dithered, Walcott knocked in the equaliser.

Parity only remained for 131 seconds before City was back in front. Once again, Arsenal was too open at the back and made to pay for it. David Silva laid the ball off to Aguero and the Argentina forward slotted into the bottom corner.

Had Walcott angled his shot lower just before the break, City’s lead would have been eradicated again but Arsenal did draw level again eight minutes into the second half.

Mesut Ozil was the provider, and Mustafi rose above Otamendi to head in the forward’s corner.

SWANSEA 0, M’BORO 0

Swansea and Middlesbrough did little to alleviate their Premier League relegation worries with a 0-0 draw yesterday.

Swansea is only a point and a place above the relegation zone, while Middlesbrough is five points behind the south Wales club with a game in hand.

The goalless draw highlighted the failings of both sides in front of goal and will encourage the teams around them.

There was no shortage of endeavour or commitment, but neither side could provide the defining moment of quality that would have meant so much.

Swansea suffered a blow before kick-off when top scorer Fernando Llorente was ruled out with a calf problem.

Llorente has shown himself to be one of the best headers of the ball in the Premier League since he left Sevilla last summer and his absence hurt Swansea and boosted Boro in equal measure.

On many occasions Swansea found themselves in decent crossing positions, but the ball had to be too precise to find Llorente’s replacement Jordan Ayew and a Boro defence well-marshalled by captain Ben Gibson coped comfortably. Chelsea Tottenham Liverpool Man. City Man. United Arsenal Everton West Brom Stoke City Southampton Bournemouth Watford Leicester West Ham Burnley Crystal Palace Swansea Hull City M’boro Sunderland La Liga 29 22 3 4 60 23 69 29 18 8 3 57 21 62 30 17 8 5 64 37 59 29 17 7 5 56 32 58 28 14 11 3 42 23 53 28 15 6 7 58 36 51 30 14 8 8 52 33 50 30 12 8 10 39 38 44 30 9 9 12 33 44 36 28 9 7 12 33 36 34 30 9 7 14 42 54 34 29 9 7 13 34 48 34 29 9 6 14 35 47 33 30 9 6 15 41 54 33 30 9 5 16 31 44 32 29 9 4 16 38 47 31 30 8 4 18 36 63 28 30 7 6 17 28 59 27 29 4 11 14 20 33 23 29 5 5 19 24 51 20

Saturday Villarreal-Eibar ................................. 2-3 Osasuna-Ath Bilbao ......................... 1-2 Real Sociedad-Leganes .................... 1-1 Malaga-Atl. Madrid ......................... 0-2 Yesterday Sevilla-Gijon .................................... 0-0 Real Madrid-Alaves ......................... 3-0 Valencia-Dep. La Coruna ................. 3-0 Granada-Barcelona ......................... 1-4 Today Celta Vigo-Las Palmas ...........................

SPAIN Standings

Real Madrid 28 21 5 2 74 28 68 Barcelona 29 20 6 3 85 26 66 Atl. Madrid 29 17 7 5 54 23 58 Sevilla 29 17 7 5 52 34 58 Real Sociedad 29 15 4 10 43 40 49 Villarreal 29 13 9 7 41 23 48 Ath Bilbao 29 14 5 10 37 33 47 Eibar 29 12 8 9 47 41 44 Espanyol 29 11 10 8 42 40 43 Alaves 29 10 10 9 29 36 40 Celta Vigo 27 11 5 11 40 45 38 Las Palmas 28 9 8 11 44 45 35 Valencia 29 9 6 14 41 51 33 Betis 29 8 7 14 32 46 31 Malaga 29 6 9 14 33 47 27 D. La Coruna 29 6 9 14 31 46 27 Leganes 29 6 9 14 23 42 27 Gijon 29 5 7 17 31 57 22 Granada 29 4 7 18 26 62 19 Osasuna 29 1 8 20 29 69 11