Arsenal were seconds aways from snatching all three points at the Etihad Stadium after they came back from an early goal by Erling Haaland to take the lead till the dying minute when they conceded.
Haaland had given Manchester City the break they needed when he connected a through ball from Savinho and beat David Raya in the 9th minute. It was a significant goal for the City striker who matched Cristiano Ronaldo’s 100 goals in 105 games for Real Madrid.
Arsenal equalised with a rocket from Riccardo Calafiori who was making his debut for the Gunners and Gabriel headed in the second goal to give Arsenal a hold of the game in a dramatic first half, which saw Leonard Trossard being sent off.
He was on a yellow and he got into the bad books of Michael Oliver again, when he got into a fight for the ball after the referee hand blown for an infringement. Oliver saw it as time-wasting, and he sent off Trossad.
Arsenal held on with ten men despite City’s bombardments, but in the final minute, City finally found a way through. A corner by Jack Grealish sent the ball low into the box, and a clearance ricocheted into the path of John Stones who slammed the ball into the net to deny Gunners the chance to go top.
Stones who came off the bench accused Arsenal of playing dirty: “You can call it clever or dirty, whichever way you want to put it. They break up the game and obviously it upsets the rhythm for everyone. They use it to their advantage.
“I thought we dealt with it really well. It’s not easy when those things happen, and you’re trying to gain momentum and get above them. Those little stoppages stop that, and we controlled out emotions really well.”
He added: “They use a side of football that not many teams do. Make it difficult, slow it down. Get the keeper on the floor to get some information on and we had to control our emotions in that time.”
There were 28 shots from City in the second half, the majority of those from outside the area as the hosts struggled to find a way through the mass of red shirts in front of them.
