I didn’t understand some decisions but, in the end, we still should be able to score a goal
was a very late tackle on Stefan [Ortega]. For me it is clearly a yellow card.
‘I don’t want to say just against us. There were also some decisions against them that I didn’t understand that he gave a foul for.
‘There are some rules and I think there are clear yellow cards where it should be. I remember the action with Jorginho when he’d already done a tackle foul and did the second one, and he didn’t even give a yellow card for one foul.
‘I didn’t understand some decisions but, in the end, we still should be able to score a goal.’
When asked if Arsenal’s approach and tactical fouling worked on Sunday, Akanji replied: ‘Definitely.
‘When we got through some times they stopped us with the fouls and, if there’s no actions, it’s hard.’
City, who sit third in the table, have to shake off that frustration as attention quickly turns to tomorrow’s home match against fourth-placed Aston Villa.
Pep Guardiola’s men have not lost in all competitions since December’s 1-0 reverse at Villa Park and Akanji believes everything is to play for in the title race.
‘Yeah, I mean how many games do we
GABRIEL JESUS believes Arsenal are still right in the title race, despite the goalless draw at Manchester City allowing Liverpool to open up a two-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
Arsenal return to action tomorrow, hosting relegation-threatened Luton, while City – a point further back in third – are at home to fourth-placed Aston Villa.
The Gunners will go back to the top of the Premier League should they win at the Emirates as Liverpool do not host Sheffield United until Thursday.
‘It’s the Premier League, it’s a tough league and anything can happen,’ former City forward Jesus said.
‘It is only two points the difference [with Liverpool] and then we have a very good goal difference.
‘Everything counts at the end but there are still a lot of games. We also have the Champions League. This is the most have left? Nine, so 27 points to get,’ he said. ‘That’s our goal to get all of them and then we’ll see how it ends.’
Meanwhile, Guardiola refused to criticise Taylor after City’s draw which has left them three points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool. ‘It’s not my
THEY SAID IT
‘We feel like we could’ve done a bit better with the ball. But when you run so much and defend… I feel like we defended deep a bit more than we planned, so you win the ball and you’re tired, so it’s really hard.’
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard admits the Gunners had hoped to offer a little more going forward at the Etihad
beautiful part of the season, you try everything to win titles.’
Jesus has widespread experience of this stage of the campaign having won four Premier League titles with City, where he came into the line-up on Sunday and had Arsenal’s best chances in the first half.
‘To play big games, you have to sometimes change your body language,’ he said. ‘To come here [the Eithad] and play against them is not easy.
‘We tried to win, I think we could win it. Maybe we played a different game to what job. I control my team and the rest I don’t know,’ Guardiola said.
‘Anthony Taylor must be happy because nothing wrong happened.
‘Normally it happens when the referee becomes more important to the players. The ref was really good. It was okay.’
we normally do, but sometimes football is like this. Each game is different.
‘We had some chances, we could score and maybe win the game, but that’s football. We take the point. To come here, to play against them, is difficult, it’s hard.
‘We came last season and we suffer a lot, we concede goals and then we made some mistakes. This was a bit different, we knew from the start at some point we had to suffer a little bit (playing) deep.
‘They are a team who love the ball, we do as well, but sometimes it is difficult.’