Manchester City and Arsenal played out a potential modern-day Premier League classic in their 2-2 draw on Sunday.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City in blockbuster fashion by running in behind the Gunners’ defence and slotting the ball past David Raya.
Savinho jinked past Riccardo Calafiori and set the Norwegian up with a stunning through ball.
However, Pep Guardiola’s men relinquished their lead after Calafiori dispatched a belter of a strike into the top corner from outside the box.
For much of the first half, the hosts were in the ascendancy at the Etihad Stadium.
However, Arsenal showcased their decisiveness in the 46th minute after Gabriel Magalhaes headed them into the lead.
Wright pinpoints strange thing Man City did against Arsenal
Soon after, Leandro Trossard was shown the door soon after delaying the restart of a free-kick that was handed to the Premier League champions as he booted the ball away.
Despite playing with 10 men, Arsenal defended valiantly.
However. their resolve was broken in the dying embers of the contest as John Stones came to City’s rescue by tapping home the equaliser from close range.
While City could be satisfied by taking home one point, perhaps they could regret the fact that they conceded from a set-piece by letting Gabriel have a free run at getting on the scoresheet.
Ian Wright criticised how Manchester City have prepared for the corners against Arsenal — touching on Kyle Walker’s decision to stay touch-tight on Gabriel instead of merely taking a few steps away from the Brazilian while marking him.
Wright said via the Premier League’s official website: “It is like they have not prepared for the corners. You can’t have Doku marking Gabriel and then they swapped to Kyle Walker.”
“You have to stop his run. You can’t be next to him as he’ll make a move on you.”
Kyle Walker defended Gabriel very poorly
It is tough to disagree with Ian Wright as it was a surprise to see Manchester City first opt to deploy Jeremy Doku to man mark Arsenal’s biggest aerial threat in Gabriel when they first got a corner.
Walker was a better candidate to do so due to the physical battle between the pair being more fairly matched and his experience as a defender.
However, the £175,000-a-week man simply let Gabriel run past him and score.
Walker was far too touch-tight on him and before Bukayo Saka put in the delivery, he was visibly poking at the Gunners colossus to provoke him.
However, the Englishman took far too much time to follow Gabriel, who scored a relatively easy header.
