Premier League: City and Arsenal spark new hot rivalry in the league
Manchester City's John Stones (centre) celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game during the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester.
The first major test, this season, to the title credentials of champions Manchester City came last Sunday, when Arsenal took the lead at the Etihad with a Gabriel strike in added time just before the interval. And up until the 99th minute it looked like City’s 47-match unbeaten home record was at serious risk, that was until John Stones stepped up in goalmouth scramble to fire in a late, late, dramatic equaliser, in what is fast becoming the newest of hot rivalries in the Premier League.
The match was one of those typical breathless encounters that has made the Premier League the most watched and supported football leagues in the world. Stretching the long-time champion fighting against hungry usurper narrative to the limit. And while Stones’ leveller crushed Arsenal hearts, it did appear, both on and off the field, that the Gunners have rattled the confidence of the champions and maybe we are seeing the first chink in the City armour this season.
There are previous examples of encounters going beyond the regular rivalry between sides in the same division, where the heat generated in the hunt for a title gets to the point where it spills over into what looks like genuine hatred between the actual teams, even more so than the dislike exhibited by their opposing fans on the stands.
The hatred the players and management of Manchester United and Liverpool had in the 80s and 90s went beyond the simple rivalry of an erstwhile Lancashire derby. While the most recent incarnation of team angst advanced into the next generation of Manchester United players and management under Alex Ferguson in the late 90s and noughties, butting heads against fellow title contenders Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal side of Highbury.
One of the first indications that Arsenal are getting under the Cityzens’ skin came with Bernardo Silva’s interview after the game when he criticised Arsenal’s style of play in comparison to Liverpool, “Liverpool always faced us face to face to try and win the game,” the Portuguese midfielder said, implying that the Gunners were more inclined to use stonewall and dark art tactics to get over the line.
"There was only one team that came to play football. The other came to play to the limits of what was possible to do and allowed by the referee, unfortunately," Silva followed on about Sunday’s game "The difference? I don't know," he added when asked about comparisons to the rivalry with Liverpool as opposed to Arsenal. "Maybe that Liverpool have already won the Premier League, Arsenal haven't. That Liverpool have won the Champions League, Arsenal haven't.” A line that is bound to sting at Arsenal egos and their well-documented failure to secure Europe’s top prize, despite being the third most successful club in the English domestic game.
Silva’s outburst does show a sort of rancour that has built up among the City and Arsenal teams that was not visible among the players and management of City and Liverpool during the Pep v Jurgen years. But Silva’s contempt for Arsenal’s unwillingness to come and play does seem a bit peculiar, considering that the Gunners were hanging on to a one-goal lead for over 50 minutes of the game, while down a man after Leandro Trossard was rather stupidly sent off for launching the ball away from a free-kick while already on a yellow card. And it must be remembered Arsenal were the away side after, what we talked about last week, having a day less recovery from their Champions League exploits away in Italy.
Maybe City and Silva were frustrated by the critical loss of Rodri to injury just as much as anything Arsenal did but there is no denying that City were ruffled by events on Sunday.
As for any dark arts or trying to get under the opponent’s skin, well City can’t have any real issues when you look at the conduct of Erling Haaland constantly goading Gabriel and putting in rather uncharacteristic spicy tackles on the Brazilian among others on the field for Arsenal. This s**t-housery culminated in the big Norwegian bouncing the ball off the back of Gabriel’s head right after collecting the ball from the back of the net for Stones’ goal.
These events led to a pushing match on the sidelines between the benches and scuffles in the centre circle, as Arsenal attempted to restart the game. Handbags were flashed, words were said, blood-pressures raised. But Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola closed it down before anything too serious spilled over. It appears that the two Spaniards still hold each other’s friendship as important. But even this seems to be getting strained compared to the warmth exhibited when Arteta had just left City.
The lines now appear to be drawn for next hot rivalry in the Premier League and us fans need this needle as much as the players to keep things interesting. We will wait and see how these sides will react the next time they face each other at the Emirates next February. Will the circumstances be as hot and the stakes as high as this last encounter in mid-September?
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