Another step forward, says Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta after draw at Man City

LONDON – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes his team took another step forward, despite conceding a 98th-minute equaliser in a full-blooded 2-2 English Premier League draw away to champions Manchester City on Sept 22.

The Gunners played the entire second half with 10 men after Leandro Trossard was sent off in first-half stoppage time for kicking the ball away, having already been on a yellow card.

Undeterred, they came agonisingly close to holding on to the 2-1 lead given to them before the break from Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Magalhaes but John Stones levelled at the death for City.

Arsenal would have gone top of the table with a first league win at the Etihad Stadium since 2015 and it would have been a huge statement in this season’s title race.

As it stands, City remain top on 13 points, ahead of Liverpool and Aston Villa – who both have 12 – and Arsenal (11).

Arteta, though, said he was still proud of his team’s resilience in the face of adversity.

“They put their heart and soul into every single action and at the end to be punished in the last minute... they are gutted,” he said.

“But as well, they know that they have made another big step today as a team and individuals to be able to do what they’ve done today here.

“We were given a context to the game that made it almost impossible... but we adapted to that context in the best possible way.

“The way the team competed was unbelievable.”

Arteta steered away from commenting on Trossard’s second yellow card, but said that “99 out of 100 times you play 56 minutes in this stadium 10 against 11 you are going to lose and lose by a lot of goals”.

“It’s unbelievable how they react, but I cannot be happy because I want to be in a situation where we can enjoy the game,” he added.

Arsenal had dropped two points in a 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion just three weeks ago, after Declan Rice was sent off for also kicking the ball away and they suffered a similar fate in heartbreaking fashion.

Against City, they did well to bounce back after Norwegian striker Erling Haaland’s 100th goal for the club had fired Pep Guardiola’s men into an early lead.

It was his 10th league goal of the season and 100th for the club across all competitions from 105 games, equalling Cristiano Ronaldo’s record as the fastest to reach a century of goals for a European team.

But Arsenal wrestled control away from City thanks to the goals from defenders Calafiori and Gabriel.

Arteta responded to Trossard’s red card by sacrificing Bukayo Saka for an extra defender in Ben White at half-time, as the visitors packed their penalty box to deny City any space to break through.

Guardiola’s side then seemed set for a first home defeat in all competitions since November 2022, until Stones bundled in from a corner at the death.

“We have that belief we can win any game and never stop fighting,” said Stones.

Guardiola, meanwhile, said his players had been smart as they laid siege to the Arsenal goal – refusing to cross long balls into the Gunners’ dominant centre-backs.

“We were so brilliant, to interpret these kind of things and afterwards it was a question of patience, a question of talent, question of luck,” the City boss said.

“(Arsenal goalkeeper David) Raya made three or four important saves and the ball didn’t drop but the last one John was there.”

He was also asked about Arsenal’s tactic of breaking up play as the minutes ticked down.

“They bring us this type of game, Arsenal, and we have to handle it. They bring in that type of game. We had to handle it, and we did it,” he said.

“We did really well. They wanted to stop the game. We were patient enough. At the end we were fortunate.” REUTERS, AFP