MANCHESTER – A nasty rivalry is brewing between Manchester City and Arsenal as a heated 2-2 draw reinforced the growing bitterness between the title favorites.
Sunday’s ill-tempered clash proved that Manchester City vs Arsenal has entered the pantheon of great Premier League rivalries.
After Bernardo Silva and John Stones had a pop at Arsenal’s defensive, “dirty” tactics in the draw, plus Silva hit out at Arsenal because they haven’t won anything in recent years compared to City’s other main rivals Liverpool, center back Manuel Akanji doubled down on the criticism of Arsenal.
Asked if Arsenal are ‘masters of the dark arts’ a frustrated Akanji agreed: “I don’t think there are many better than them at it.”
And he added that City will still end up winning the Premier League title for a fifth-straight season.
“In the end we always won the title and I don’t think it’s going to be different this year,” Akanji said.
Akanji hits out at Arsenal approach
From Havertz crashing into Rodri inside the first few seconds to Haaland barging into Gabriel in the final few seconds, it was chaos across the pitch and things boiled over on multiple occasions. Arsenal’s tactics rattled City, who also lost Rodri to injury, and Mikel Arteta’s side have closed the gap to City with their physical approach clearly unsettling the side which has won four titles in a row.
Could Akanji sum up the drama?
“That’s what they’re looking for. Always when we play against them, that’s what they’re looking for. The drama. Going hard in the duels, defense, 11 players in their own box and then go on set pieces and try to score a goal,” an annoyed Akanji told Pro Soccer Talk.
PST noted the frustration in Akanji’s voice and asked him if he was frustrated by Arsenal’s approach.
“It worked for them so if they’re happy with the one point. We’re not, we tried to get more but that’s what they’re happy with,” Akanji continued.
Rivalry brewing but City irked
Akanji was then asked if the rivalry with Arsenal has gone up a few levels, as for the third season in a row they seemed destined for a ridiculously tight title battle.
“That’s what they’re looking for in the end,” Akanji said. “We have to defend ourselves because in every duel, every free kick that was given, they went on the floor. Players go on the floor to get up, sprint back again, go on the floor again, one of their team went over to tell the keeper to go on the floor and stuff like this. I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it. In the end, It’s up to the referee to control throughout the whole season, to control these situations. But yeah, there’s nothing else we can do about it.”
Up a man, City battered Arsenal for the entire second half with 88 percent possession and recorded the second highest number of shots (28) in history in a single half of Premier League action. City finally broke through to equalize in the 98th minute through John Stones to extend their club-record 48-game unbeaten run at home.
What does that say about the resilience of this City team?
“Of course, at the end of the day we’re still top of the league,” Akanji said. “We haven’t lost a game yet. We tried, especially in the second half with one man up but it’s hard with ten players defending in their own box. So we tried our best, in the end we had to keep pushing until the end. Luckily in the end we scored a goal and got one point.”
Referee also in Akanji’s bad book
Akanji also got drawn into the refereeing controversy, as he asked for officials to control Arsenal’s time wasting better moving forward.
Michael Oliver was criticized by both teams for key decisions. Oliver allowed Arsenal to take a quick free kick for their first goal as City’s captain Kyle Walker wasn’t back in position after a chat with the ref, then sent off Leandro Trossard for a second yellow for kicking the ball away when he didn’t book City’s Jeremy Doku for doing the same earlier.
“I see it as well, Kyle and Saka were called over to talk with him [referee],” Akanji said about Arsenal’s first goal. “Normally, also on substitutions, when you make one you wait until the player is back in position. Walks definitely wasn’t back in his position and they played the free kick quick. They scored a goal of it, what should I say more?”
All eyes on the rematch in February
Despite the irked feeling overwhelming City’s squad, Akanji’s defiant demeanor summed up their fire to go out and demolish everyone from here on out as he didn’t feel like this draw would be crucial in where the title ends up this season.
“It is undecided for the league. How many games have we played, five? We got 99 points to get, and hopefully we can go out and get all of them and we will see how it turns out,” Akanji said.
City next face Arsenal at the Emirates on the weekend of February 1, 2025, which once again seems pivotal in the title race.
“Like I said earlier in the season, I think again, we got to win the league again, and we don’t focus too much on Arsenal,” Akanji said. “Obviously, the focus today was on them because we played against them, but now we don’t play them for half a year, so still focusing ourselves on our games, and then we will see.”
After this bad-tempered clash boiled over, the war of words will no doubt continue over the coming months.
We now know exactly what kind of game we will see at the Emirates in February. It will not be pretty, or for the faint-hearted.