Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Quotes round-up Maybe it’s a bit strange to reference a game from a week ago to start this blog about the one we played yesterday, but I felt much more disheartened at the end of the Bournemouth game than I did at the final whistle against Man City. Even with the head to head nature of this encounter, how it would make the pendulum swing, and the fact we had a glorious late chance to score, there wasn’t the same sense of dismay, for me at least. It probably shouldn’t make sense. This defeat really blows open this title race. Man City have now won four in a row at an ominous time of the season, we’ve won just one of our last six in all competitions. If there is momentum, it feels like it’s with them and not us. And yet, in terms of performance, I liked a lot more of what we did yesterday than the Bournemouth game. The return of Martin Odegaard helped, as did the deployment of Kai Havertz up front with Eberechi Eze on the left. There was just much more cohesion to our game, and when we did have the ball, we were able to do more with it. The early error by David Raya thankfully didn’t set the tone, but it still wasn’t needed, and the opening stages felt like the two teams jabbing away at each other. Rayan Cherki’s 16th minute goal saw the City man dance through our defence a bit too easily for my liking, but before we could even start to feel the pressure of being behind, we were level. A throw in back to Donnarumma was chased down by Havertz who put the keeper under real pressure and as he tried to play the ball, the Arsenal striker blocked the ball into the net to make it 1-1. The game was surprisingly open, with Erling Haaland failing to find Antoine Semenyo on the break, and the Norwegian fluffed a shot from the edge of the box after Jeremy Doku caused Cristhian Mosquera problems down the right. That side of the pitch was a bit of a problem for us, the right-back picked up a yellow card which, to be fair, he dealt with pretty well, but ahead of him Noni Madueke was far too scattergun and careless when the ball did get to him. It wasn’t a surprise to see him replaced at half-time by Gabriel Martinelli, although the Brazilian’s first involvement was inauspicious, giving the ball away to put us under pressure in the process. City got a corner, we blocked a shot, then Haaland hit the outside of the post from the rebound. Unfortunately, there was worse to come from Martinelli, and giving City in the impetus in the second half felt very familiar after what happened at Wembley a few weeks ago. But on the hour mark we burst into life, good work from Eze and Odegaard created a chance for Havertz, but Donnarumma was big and made a decent save. Perhaps the German was on the stretch just a little, but it was a real opportunity to go ahead. A minute later and we came even closer to taking the lead, Eze’s brilliant left-footed curler hit the inside of the post, and ran across the line before rolling to safety. We’re talking millimetres here, one more half rotation of the ball and that probably goes in. Fine margins. Sliding doors moments. What ifs. However you want to categorise them, they weren’t on our side yesterday. Then just a couple of minutes later they went ahead. Martinelli ignored Odegaard’s instruction to follow Nico O’Reilly and decided to press the man in possession, leaving acres of space which the City left-back gleefully used with the ball at his feet. It came back to him in the box, he put it across goal, it fell for Haaland who won the battle with Gabriel and he made it 2-1. I’ve seen talk about how it’s a foul, but I just think on this occasion, and in this game, the big Brazilian fell short of his best. He’s come out on top before, but when you face an opponent like Haaland, there’s going to be a day when he gets the better of you and unfortunately it was yesterday. They were at each other all game, as they usually are, but in that moment the six of one, half a dozen nature of the other grappling and niggling went the wrong way for us. I also think he was quite lucky not to have been sent off. At one point they went head to head like a pair of rutting stags, and there was a clear movement of the head from Gabriel towards Haaland. It wasn’t clever, but I absolutely think if it’s almost any other player, they’d have gone down clutching their face, thus giving the referee no choice but to issue a red card. So, whatever you think about Haaland, I appreciate that he didn’t react and his comments on it afterwards. It wasn’t a headbutt, per se, but we’ve seen players sent off for that, and less, in the past and I think the lack of histrionics from Haaland saved his bacon. Mikel Arteta made some changes, with Ben White on for Mosquera, which made sense because he was on a yellow, and Leandro Trossard for Eze which did make me raise an eyebrow. He’d hit the post, and he is the kind of player capable of producing something special, but perhaps there was a physical issue more than a tactical one at play. I’d also have been very tempted to throw Max Dowman on for Martinelli whose cameo on the right was worse than Madueke’s poor first half. We hit the post again through a Gabriel header, and with 7 minutes of injury time running down, we fashioned the one chance I hoped we’d be able to make with City now sitting back in a bit to defend their lead. White found Trossard on the right, his cross into the middle couldn’t have been any better, but Havertz powered his header just over the bar. Arteta sank to his knees on the sideline, the Arsenal players hands went to their heads, because that was the moment. It’s hard not to think of how much that goal would have meant. Jubilation for Arsenal, late heartache for City, not quite turning the tide, but I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say it would have felt as big as any goal we’ve scored this season. As I struggled to get to sleep last night, I kept seeing it. Over and over, it went over. I think Havertz played well yesterday, we look a better team with him up front, but in those clutch moments you have to put the ball in the back of the net. It still gives me a sinking feeling this morning. How costly could that be? I realise that a season is long, playing out over 9 months and 38 games, but sometimes there’s that one incident that feels like it matters more than others. I hope that’s not the case with this one, but as we now go into the final weeks of the season neck and neck with a City side we should probably still have a points advantage over, it has the potential to be exactly that. Afterwards, Mikel Arteta once again referenced the quality in both boxes, which is something we’ve heard before and, if you’re being critical/realistic this morning, something we haven’t addressed properly in the transfer market. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that despite the fact we spent a lot, the quality in the final third is still not where it needs to be. He was then asked if he needs to pick the players up after such a defeat, and said: If I have to pick the players to win the Premier League with five games to go in our hands and be in the semi-final of the Champions League, I think I should be at home. So it’s not the case. It’s not needed. It’s never been needed, even in difficult moments. So we go again, that’s for sure. Which is, publicly anyway, the only thing he can say. This title race is going down to the wire, it’s still ostensibly in our hands, and that’s the way he and the players have to approach it. It might come down to goal difference, which is a worry because I think they have more fire power than us, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that there could be an unexpected twist or turn before the end. Personally though, I go back to something I said on the Arsecast Extra last week which is that if we’d won yesterday, I’d have been confident we go the distance. Defeat, however, would undermine our title challenge to the point where I felt City’s momentum and experience at getting over the line would win out. I can’t lie and say I don’t feel like that’s how it’s going to go. A week ago we had a chance to go 12 points clear, albeit temporarily; on Wednesday City can go level on points with us, and if they beat Burnley the way I think they will, they’ll go top on goal difference. If you feel like you’ve seen this movie before, it’s because you have. And I don’t like the ending. Of course, it’s not set in stone, a lot can happen in two games let alone five, but Arsenal have no margin for error anymore. We’ve got to turn this run of one win in six into five wins in a row, and at least one or two of those have to be comprehensive. There were some positive signs in terms of how we set the team up yesterday and how it improved the attack, but it’s still a lot to ask. The only thing we can do now is lean into those positives, however hollow they might feel this morning, and see what happens. Clearly how this season plays out and where we end up will have significant implications for this team and this manager, but until such time as we have real clarity one way or the other, it’s a discussion that can wait. City landed a real punch yesterday, but Arsenal still have a chance to ensure it’s not a knock-out blow. We’re in eight count territory though, and the only way to react is against Newcastle on Saturday. Let’s see what we can do. — Right, I’ll leave it there, but you can join myself and James an Arsecast Extra a bit later. We’ve already put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com. So fire away using the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server. The pod should be out around midday. For now, have a good one. The post Man City 2-1 Arsenal: Defeat means title race will go down to the wire appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.