Man City and Arsenal had a pulsating 2-2 draw on Sunday; the scenes at the end of the game saw Erling Haaland clash with several Arsenal players, plus manager Mikel Arteta; With John Stones, Bernardo Silva and Gabriel all having their say at full-time, this could be a rivalry for the ages
Tuesday 24 September 2024 10:42, UK
John Stones scored and the Etihad Stadium erupted.
Alongside the celebrations from the home fans and the utter dejection in the visiting end, the players started clashing off the ball, the two dugouts had words too. "It's gone off between the benches," cried Jamie Carragher after the goal went in.
Sunday's showdown between title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal reached new feverish heights. In fact, the spectacular needle between the two teams has not been seen in the Premier League for at least a decade. This is now the start of a new era-defining rivalry.
City's battle with Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool was spectacular in its own right - but it was a rivalry mainly stemming from competition, not emotion. Never did it boil over like what was seen at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
City have now gone four winless games in a row against Arsenal. But the scenes on Sunday were much more than frustration that Guardiola's winning machine cannot find the answer against the Gunners. It was personal.
What was fascinating was the sheer number of narratives in certain areas of the pitch. The two teams share a rivalry with further context and storylines that add to the emotion.
Take Rodri as an example. On the final day of last season, the midfielder was critical of Arsenal's mentality during their game at City in March, saying the Gunners did not show enough mettle to win the Premier League. On Sunday, it took Kai Havertz just two seconds to clatter into the midfielder. Right back at you.
Erling Haaland, meanwhile, failed to score in all three of his matches against Arsenal last season, in a major win for Gunners centre-backs William Saliba and Gabriel.
How did the Norwegian respond this time? He clattered Saliba inside four minutes, threw a ball at Gabriel's head to spark a melee after City's late equaliser and even took on Mikel Arteta with his "stay humble, eh?" message. Biting back against his most challenging opponents.
The many storylines that have impacted the dramatic nature of this fixture means the Mikel Arteta-Pep Guardiola 'apprentice and master' narrative has gone cold. But why?
Could it potentially be because Arteta and Guardiola were similar figures - and have now split apart in their styles?
Stylistically, Guardiola and Liverpool's Klopp were always complete opposites - it was the battle of two differing ideologies. Klopp's heavy metal, counter-pressing, direct football didn't strike the same chord as Guardiola's orchestral, staccato dance around the pitch, so the differing styles never clashed personally. So neither did the players.
Guardiola and Arteta, meanwhile, are clearly more similar. These were two managers who once sang from the same hymn sheet and in some cases, they have shared instruments.
Arteta took Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from City to launch their title ambitions two years ago. The Arsenal manager also pinched set-piece guru Nicolas Jover from his former club, who has now become the standout dead-ball coach in Europe. Arteta now has Raheem Sterling back under his stewardship in another City throwback.
Both managers play four centre-backs across the backline, both have one-on-one explorers for wingers - Sunday's match showcased the best of Savinho, Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli - and both have goalkeepers who could easily pass off as attacking midfielders.
But while Arteta has used his City experience to mould a title-contending team, his style has now become so different to the Guardiola way.
Firstly, the City manager's philosophy is to win in their own patient, possession-based, tiki-taka way, where Guardiola will never criticise his team providing the performance is good.
Meanwhile Arsenal have a 'victory at all costs' mentality, where the playing style can be compromised in the search for three points. The training ground dog named 'Win' demonstrates the notion that the result will always override the display.
Arsenal's desire to just get over the line has been evident in recent weeks. Normally, Arteta and Arsenal have to deal with opponents coming to the Emirates and being street-smart in terms of winding down the clock. But when the shoe is on the other foot and the Gunners need to play dirty, they are willing to change tact themselves.
Speaking after the win over Tottenham, which preceded the draw at City, Arteta said: "It's a real compliment to the team. Any player in any area of the pitch is ready to do what a lot of people call 'the ugly things on the pitch'.
"They still enjoy to do that part of the game and when you do that, you start to become a very complete team that can win in any context."
City perhaps see Arsenal as imitations of themselves due to the personnel shared between the two clubs, but are irked by how different the Gunners are.
After all, they went into Sunday's game as two top teams but world-class in opposite departments. City are the best Premier League team at home, Arsenal are the best away side. City have the best attack, the Gunners have the best defence. Haaland is the best striker in the league, Saliba and Gabriel are the best defensive partnership. Even Rodri is a No 6 doing No 8 abilities, with Declan Rice a No 8 doing No 6 skills.
Is it possible that City just do not understand why Arsenal have the same profiles as them but choose to go down a different, defensive path in the big games? There seems to be bewilderment in the City camp as to why Arsenal don't act like Klopp's Liverpool.
"Liverpool always faced us face-to-face to try to win the games, so from this perspective the games against Arsenal haven't been like the ones we had and have against Liverpool," said Bernardo Silva after full-time on Sunday.
"There was only one team that came to play football [on Sunday]. The other [Arsenal] came to play to the limits of what was possible to do and allowed by the referee, unfortunately.
"We're not happy as we wanted the three points, but personally I'm happy with the way we came to play and faced the game. I'm glad we always enter the pitch to try to win every match."
City and Arsenal have clashed before. During their first Premier League meeting of last season in October 2023, City reacted badly after Arsenal's late Martinelli winner and there was some pushing and shoving as the players went back down the tunnel.
But now that has developed into scenes very similar to what Arsenal had with Manchester United back in the Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson days. Not a local rivalry, but respectful hatred from one set of players to another.
So roll on this title race and set a new date in the diary. The weekend of February 1 and 2. The return fixture at a raucous Emirates Stadium.
"We're waiting for them at our ground ," said Gabriel after the Etihad encounter. Expect fireworks again.
