Manchester City and Arsenal played out a pulsating 2-2 draw in the Premier League on Sunday – and Alan Shearer admitted he had sympathy for one player.
Pep Guardiola‘s side were seconds away from their first defeat of the season, only for John Stones to pop up and score at the death after coming on as a substitute.
Erling Haaland gave City the lead in the first-half, scoring his 100th goal for the club.
But Arsenal turned the game on its head with Riccardo Calafiori equalising and then Gabriel scoring a header from a corner.
The goal from Calafiori was controversial, because referee Michael Oliver had called captains Kyle Walker and Bukayo Saka over for a chat.
Then he blew his whistle while Walker still wasn’t fully in position, and Alan Shearer admitted he had sympathy for the City man.
Alan Shearer reacts to Arsenal equaliser against Man City
Yesterday’s game was a tough one for Michael Oliver.
It was an incident-packed game and there was also a lot of time-wasting and dark arts from Arsenal.
Oliver was right to call Walker and Saka over for a chat, presumably to pass the message on to the other players to calm things down.
But Oliver was then very hasty blowing his whistle so that Arsenal could take a quick free-kick.
On Match of the Day 2, Alan Shearer expressed his sympathy with Walker. He said: “Yes I do (have sympathy).
“I think Michael looking back at this will wish he had have waited and just halted that because he does call them in to talk.
“He does get back into a decent position but it’s not the perfect position and that’s what happens. Looking back, he should have stopped it.”
Walker said after yesterday’s game that he felt Oliver should have let him get back in position before blowing his whistle.
Disappointing from Oliver
Shearer is probably right, Oliver may be wishing that he had just waited a few seconds longer before allowing play to restart.
It was certainly unusual. Normally, you do see referees let players fully get back in position after speaking to them, before blowing the whistle.
At the same time, Walker – who was also criticised by Pep for his defending in the second goal – did get out to Gabriel Martinelli, so there cannot be too much focus on Oliver’s decision.
In the end, a draw was probably a fair result at the Etihad.
City were just lacking their usual invention and bite, while Arsenal put in a huge defensive effort.
