Mundane against Manchester

Lining up against Manchester City has never been an easy feat, well post investment era anyways. But, especially since Pep Guardiola took charge, although in recent years we've witnessed Mikel Arteta get one over his former employer.

On paper the scales tipped in Arsenal's favour. Home crowd, better form and a longer period of recovery after a midweek clash. Arsenal were missing players of their own, but City had a few more names on the injury list. It was a hard call to predict the outcome, but the majority of neutrals selected Arsenal for victory. It took Erling Haaland nine minutes to silence the home crowd and prove that his team weren't going to roll over like last season. A quick exchange set Man City up for the counter attack and Haaland was sent through on goal by Tijjani Reijnders, the Norweigan dispatched his chance with ease.

Suddenly Arteta's conservative approach was blown wide open and we were left chasing a goal, something that Arsenal have only had to do once this season. Now, because Arteta had set up to err on the side of caution, that meant the team didn't have the impetus going forward to really trouble the City defence. A few half chances aside, Gianluigi Donnarumma was left with very little to do and that was a huge concern.

The 2nd half rolled around and it sparked change amongst the Arsenal selection. Noni Madueke went off through injury, but we welcomed Bukayo Saka back into the frame. In addition to this, we also saw Eberechi Eze replace Mikel Merino. The change in rhythm was instant and Arsenal benefited hugely from having a natural creator on the pitch. Clear cut chances were still hard to come by, but the ideas were there and Pep could feel the wind in the sails change. He adopted a more defensive approach and attempted to sucker Arsenal into carefully laid traps. It looked as though it was going to work as well until two substitutes combined again and rescued a point in the 93rd minute. Eze clipped a lovely ball over top of the defence for Gabriel Martinelli to run onto. Martinelli created some separation from his marker and managed to pluck the ball out of the sky and bring it under his control. But, the difficult part of his goal had only just begun as his marker was gaining on him with the ball still bobbling around his feet. That's when the Brazilian attempted an audacious lob over one of the tallest goalkeeper's in the league, but due to the Italian's positioning, it sailed over his head and bounced in. Two goals in two games for our Martinelli.

That was it, apart from a little bit of probing late on, Arteta was content with rescuing a draw. Arsenal perhaps looked the most threatening team and the statistics back that up. However, the stats also support the idea that Arsenal were much improved in the second half registering eight shots versus the four in the first half. All together this generated 0.89 xG compared to City's 0.87 xG. Pep's men only registered five shots, but created two big chances within that which matched Arsenal's tally. So it was more of a game that showed City created better chances, but Arsenal created more.

I have my frustrations over Arteta's team selection, but it's not the end of the world like people are suggesting. It's still a 1-1 draw against one of Pep's teams and you have to take it all day long. Do I think the decision to play both Merino and Leandro Trossard was correct? No, absolutely not. But, I can see what he was hoping to achieve. Haaland's goal probably foiled the ultimate game plan and his decisions with the team selection were exaggerated as a result. Merino offers that chaos element that you get from Kai Havertz. Constantly pressing, winning aerial duels and is capable of playing slick football, but that only works when you're winning and not up against an elite midfield and defensive combination. Likewise with Trossard, I think Arteta looked at an inexperienced right back in Abdukodir Khusanov and decided to put one of his most tactically astute players on him. There is a stubbornness to Arteta to make certain tactical approaches work and the idea that Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Merino work as a midfield three is proof of that. Arteta mentioned that no one complained against Athletic Bilbao when he lined up with that trio, but in reality people did. It's just we won the game so it was easier to forget that a majority of the game was spent struggling to break the Spaniard's down. Individually speaking the three of them are excellent, but put them together and you get a rigid, uncomfortable and unimaginative approach. You need one of those three to have a bit of flair and be able to turn quickly in tight spaces. Eze, Odegaard and Ethan Nwaneri are all capable, but there seems to be a refusal to play the English duo when a big game arrives and Odegaard is absent.

Player Ratings:

Raya - 6 - He couldn't really do much with Haaland's goal as his defence had already let him down, but aside from a couple of comfortable saves, he had very little to do.

Timber - 6 - Not one of Timber's best games as he had the task of trying to nullify Jeremy Doku. He subdued him somewhat, but this meant that his offensive contribution was limited.

Saliba - 6 - Didn't do very well for Haaland's goal as he kind of lost where the Norwegian was and in the end offered no obstacle for him to overcome. Gabriel was quick to remind Saliba of that. He was strong from then on, but that goal was partly down to the Frenchman.

Gabriel - 6 - As much as Saliba had more responsibility with the goal, Gabriel was caught high up the pitch and didn't have the speed to get back into position before Haaland was put through. He was strong after, but inexcusable defending high up the pitch.

Calafiori - 6 - Much like the rest of the back four, it wasn't his strongest performance. Always willing to get forward, but sometimes at the cost of the actual attackers getting into the right spaces. He recorded three shots, two on target, but was also nowhere to be seen for Haaland's goal.

Zubimendi - 6 - The Spaniard is a victim of his environment. He's been at his best when he's had Nwaneri ahead of him or Eze as he likes to play the quick 1-2's. With Rice and Merino he wasn't getting that and it was restricting what he could do. There was a moment when he made a give and go with Rice, but didn't get the ball back after moving into space to break free from their press. Rice opted to go back to Raya and left Zubimendi visibly frustrated.

Rice - 6 - Another game where we're not seeing the Rice of old. He's struggling to influence the game higher up the pitch and is instead being used primarily to break up counter attacks and add an extra dimension in defence. He did create a couple of chances, which shows that he can do a job further up the pitch.

Merino - 5 - Despite a couple of nice moments, he was clearly not adapting to the role that was required of him. Slow in possession and didn't show any signs of troubling Rodri. He presses well and will duel with anyone, but clearly more was needed and that's why he only lasted a half.

Trossard - 6 - One of the other selections that didn't make much sense to me when I originally saw the team sheet, but he's usually in and amongst the goals/assists. Perhaps a reward for his midweek endeavours, but those were a distant memory in this game. Khusanov marshalled him expertly in the first half and was further contained by Nathan Ake when he came on. He's much better off the bench and Arteta needs to realise that.

Gyokeres - 5 - It isn't quite clicking for Gyokeres just yet, but there's an element similar to Zubimendi in that he's a victim of his environment. Yes we see Haaland create his own chances with his movement and sheer desire, but Gyokeres isn't on his level and it's becoming clearer to see. He always battles hard and I firmly believe that if we start putting the ball into the box from a variety of methods then we'll see better from him.

Madueke - 6 - He only lasted to half time due to an injury, but was bright once again. He still lacks that goal and assist, but creates chances out of nothing and it's something that the starting line up lacked. He's hard to contain, but didn't get a full game to express himself

Substitutes:

Saka - 7 - It wasn't the most ideal of players to take over from, but Saka is clearly just a level above Madueke in terms of how he can affect a game. Despite only just coming back from injury, Saka was sharp and full of ideas. It was great to see him again.

Martinelli - 8 (MOTM) - I don't think his overall performance was anything to write home about, but considering how average most of them were, he takes my Man of the Match accolade. The goal was delightful and it showed how devastating he can be when played through the middle. His pace and determination are a real asset and he does still have the quality on the ball to do something with a chance.

Eze - 7 - The Englishman was breath of fresh air after watching Merino for 45 minutes. He's much better on the ball and you get the feeling he could create something at any moment and he did. A perfectly executed long ball to Martinelli proved to be an important assist and shows that direct play can work.

Nwaneri - N/A -

Mosquera - N/A -

Up next for Arsenal is Port Vale away in the EFL Cup (Carabao Cup) which will take place on Wednesday 24th September at 8PM (GMT). Here's who I'd line up with.

I think we need to respect the competition as there's no such thing as an easy game, but also rest the right players and give some returning members some minutes. I would perhaps use more youth, but that would be Max Dowman coming in for Saka around half time, perhaps an Andre Harriman-Annous or Josh Nichols off the bench. The only other thing I would like to see is how a midfield of Zubimendi, Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri would play. Definitely need to rest the likes of Gabriel, Calafiori and Timber as they've consumed a lot of minutes already and were subject to injury concerns last season. Especially with an incredibly tough and exhausting game against Newcastle on the weekend.

Onwards and upwards!