Regaining their position at the top of the Premier League table, Manchester City defeated 10-man Arsenal 2-2 on Sunday afternoon at the Etihad Stadium.
After Riccardo Calafiori’s first goal for Arsenal on his league debut cancelled out Erling Haaland’s 100th goal for Man City and his tenth goal of the Premier League season, Gabriel Magalhaes headed Arsenal ahead just before halftime.
Leandro Trossard’s two bookable offences sent Arsenal into halftime down a man, forcing Mikel Arteta to park the van in the second half in a bid to salvage a victory. But John Stones, who had been on the bench, scored a thrilling equalizer in the 98th minute to give Pep Guardiola’s team a point.
Here, we examine each player’s performance during the showdown at the top of the table.
Goalie David Raya: 9 out of 10.
Player of the season so far for Arsenal, arguably, who made nine saves in all, including a spectacular diving stop to deny Josko Gvardiol with four minutes remaining.
Defend
7/10 for Jurrien Timber
Timber was asked to play on the right side of a back four, and he performed admirably considering that he had spent the majority of the season at left defense. appeared assured and collected the entire time.
7/10 for William Saliba
When Haaland broke through on goal to score Arsenal’s first, there was an unexpectedly wide space between the two center backs, and Saliba might have done more to contain the Norwegian at that precise moment. But after that, the Frenchman hardly moved and made a number of blocks and clearances to keep City out until the late equalizer.
8.10 for Gabriel Magalhaes
Gabriel added one more reassurance.
display in the back for the Gunners and demonstrated his extraordinary threat from set pieces once more with his second game in a row of headed goals. Another amazing performance by the Brazilian.
8/10 for Riccardo Calafiori
Before setting up Haaland’s opening goal, Calafiori was defeated far too easily by Savinho. However, the Italian summer acquisition bounced back and marked his first Premier League start for the Gunners with a spectacular side-footed equalizer in the 23rd minute.
Declan Rice, Midfield: 7/10
Rice did not play a major role, but he did play a good midfield role, especially in the second half. In the second half, he was also booked for wasting time before to receiving a free kick.
Thomas Partey: 7 out of 10.
Partey did well to make multiple interceptions in deep midfield zones and played similarly to his midfield partner Rice. A late challenge on Savinho during a Man City counterattack resulted in another booking for him.
5/10 for Leandro Trossard
Behind Kai Havertz, Trossard was playing as a central attacking midfielder. However, his performance at the Etihad was ruined by two unnecessary bookings: the first came when he pulled Savinho’s shirt during a break, and the second came when he kicked the ball away after shoving Bernardo Silva in the back in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time.
ATTACK: 6/10 for Bukayo Saka
Saka had moments of brilliance in the first half, curling a gorgeous corner onto Gabriel’s head to give Arsenal the lead just before halftime. However, when Trossard was substituted off, Saka was given up at the interval.
Kai Havertz: 6.
Havertz was mainly responsible for his lack of attacking involvement in the second half, as he moved back into midfield and made significant defensive contributions.
Gabriel Martinelli: 7 out of 10.
Martinelli helped out defensively on the left wing in the second half, setting up Calafiori for his equalizer and consistently supplying an out-ball for Arsenal’s counterattack.
