GUARDIOLA’S
Late Rodri goal nicks victory
FOR so long, this looked like going down as the afternoon on which Mikel Arteta’s young guns really came of age. At 1-0 and even 1-1 they were the better side, if not in terms of possession then certainly in terms of chances created, with exceptional performances all over the park.
On either flank, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli had Nathan Ake and Joao Cancelo on toast for large parts of the game.
Martin Odegaard was magnificent on and off the ball and, behind him, Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka were just as good.
Ultimately, though, all that good work, all that hard work and all that promise was in vain.
Rodri popped up in stoppage-time to steal victory for Manchester City in what is becoming a procession to another Premier League title.
That’s 11 win on the spin in the top flight since the surprise defeat by Crystal Palace in October.
And while they weren’t at their best here, they delivered the goods to remind Arsenal that pretty football is all well and good but results are all that really matter.
This was a game of fine margins. Had Stuart Attwell awarded a good penalty shout to Odegaard when he appeared to be fouled by Ederson, or denied City a soft one when Granit Xhaka grabbed a bit of Bernardo Silva’s shirt, and had Gabriel Martinelli not then missed an open goal to make it 2-1, there’s every chance the Gunners would have won.
Aymeric Laporte’s header looped over Ederson towards his own goal but was cleared off the line by Ake, and when the loose ball fell to Martinelli he struck the outside of a post with the goal at his mercy.
Had that gone in, referee Attwell would have taken both teams back to the centre-circle for the restart.
Instead, moments later, he was sending off Gabriel Magalhaes for a silly second booking – soon after he’d had his name taken for dissent when City won the penalty from which Riyad Mahrez cancelled out Saka’s first-half opener.
The penalty was contentious as well and could have gone either way.
It did, in fact, with Attwell ruling first that Xhaka hadn’t brought down Silva, only for VAR Jarred Gillett to send him to his monitor and for the referee to change his mind – and leave Arsenal fuming.
Those two moments would prove costly for Arsenal, and when Rodri scored City’s juggernaut rolled on.
Boss Pep Guardiola said: “Congratulations, they were better. The coin sometimes falls on your side, sometimes on the other side.
“We were incredibly tired, they were better. Football has happened in that situation.”
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta was at home after testing positive for Covid, and assistant Albert Stuivenberg said: “Confusing is the right word.we are looking for consistency here.
“The Odegaard moment is a clear penalty. If there is any consistency you would say bring the referee to check. That didn’t happen.
“With the City penalty it happened, and I thought it was soft but, okay, it happened.
“We took the game to them again because we had the opportunity to score with Martinelli, but it changed with the red card.”
On Gabriel’s red, he added: “He made a normal comment to the referee and he got a yellow card.
“But if you have one yellow card you must control your emotions.’’
that when it came to the crunch his team imploded in the space of five mad second-half minutes.
It would be easy to say Arsenal’s inexperience cost them. But the main culprits were serial offender Granit Xhaka and £27million Brazilian defender Gabriel.
Xhaka clearly stuck out a knee to block Bernardo Silva as the midfielder danced into the Arsenal box. But he compounded the offence by grabbing a fistful of the Portuguese’s shirt.
Referee Stuart Attwell didn’t see anything untoward until he was advised by VAR official Jarred Gillett to take a look at the pitch-side monitor. Xhaka confronted Silva and Gabriel was booked after being caught raking the penalty spot with his studs.
But when peace was restored, Mahrez still scored for the fifth successive game to bring his team level.
And that was when the contest really swung the way of the champions.
Almost immediately, it needed a brilliant goalline clearance by Nathan Ake to prevent Aymeric Laporte scoring an embarrassing own-goal with a wayward header.
And when the ball was cleared to Gabriel Jesus on the halfway line,
Gabriel’s crude bodycheck brought him a second yellow card with a third of the game still to play.
Defender Rob Holding was sent on to shore up the gap left by Gabriel.
City passed and probed, but they were being held at arm’s length by the Gunners with such ease that they later threw on Emile Smith Rowe to ask the visitors a few more questions.
Then deep into added time a shot from Laporte was blocked and it fell perfectly for Rodri to steer the ball home.
It is only the second time City have overturned a half-time deficit to win a Premier League game since 1995.