Manchester City would have been left incredibly frustrated for a number of reasons after their 2-2 draw against Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola’s men would perhaps have been unhappy with their own performance in the second half.
At half-time, the City players would have smelt blood after witnessing Leandro Trossard being sent off.
Manchester City were given a full half of football to come back from 2-1 down to beat Arsenal and that too at the Etihad Stadium.
John Stones’ 98th-minute equaliser would have come as a relief to the hosts in the moment but upon reflection, it was a missed opportunity for them to lay down a marker on Sunday.
When Gabriel Magalhaes put Arsenal into the lead, the visitors had the momentum on their side.
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Bernardo claims Arsenal star was the “protagonist of time wasting” against Man City
However, their heads would have dropped after Trossard received a red card.
But City failed to put Arsenal to the sword — an approach they seemingly headed into the contest with as they started the game on the front foot.
It was no coincidence that Manchester City were fired into the lead by Erling Haaland as early as eight minutes into the clash as they seemed determined to make a statement.
But considering how blunt the Sky Blues’ attack was in the second half, it seems like the sending off proved to a blessing in disguise for Arsenal.
Arteta’s side embraced the dark arts as they seemingly tried to run down the clock and finding new ways to delay the restart and damage City’s momentum.
Bernardo Silva accused Arsenal’s £27 million (The Telegraph) man David Raya of being primarily responsible for time wasting the most out of his teammates against Manchester City.
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Bernardo told journalist Alessandro Schiavone on Gianluca Di Marzio’s website: “Then they fouled Rodri before their goalkeeper was the protagonist of time wasting. But do you know what the most ridiculous thing is? Only giving six, seven minutes of added time after all that. But at least we played to win and we are still happy because I am someone who likes to play football to win. While they used tricks and cheating.”
David Raya would have frustrated the Man City players
As per Opta Analyst, Raya took nine minutes and four seconds in total to take his goal-kicks — the most taken by a goalkeeper in the Premier League this season.
The Spaniard also took an average of 45 seconds to take every goal-kick while Arsenal took 42 seconds per average restart.
Naturally, Bernardo and his teammates would have been frustrated.
Referee Michael Oliver did not seem to clamp down on Raya’s ploy during the game.
Considering the statistics that have been revealed, it is a surprise that only seven minutes were added during the clash.
