Manchester City rescued a point against Arsenal at the weekend – and Erling Haaland made a lot of headlines once again.
Manchester City almost slipped to a first defeat of the season against the Gunners, but John Stones scored deep into injury-time after City had applied huge pressure to their 10-man opponents in the second-half.
In the end, it was perhaps a fair result.
Arsenal, while employing some dark arts, defended very resolutely and made it really hard for City.
But City were the only team going for it in the second-half, and it would have been a real shame if that pressure didn’t tell.
The celebrations after Stones scored were wild, and some noticed Erling Haaland throwing the ball at the back of Gabriel’s head amid the chaos.
This has annoyed Arsenal fans, but Onuoha believes it is a storm in a teacup.
Nedum Onuoha dismisses Erling Haaland throwing the ball at Gabriel
Haaland was relatively quiet in the game on Sunday, after opening the scoring for his 10th goal in five games.
He was well dealt with by Gabriel and William Saliba, but the Norwegian was still involved in the drama.
After Stones scored, Haaland picked up the ball and chucked it at the back of Gabriel’s head. The Brazilian had pulled his head into his shirt and seemingly didn’t even realise anything had happened.
Gabriel has since spoken about what Haaland did, brushing it off as ‘part of the game’.
Arsenal fans are not happy with Haaland’s behaviour, but former City defender Onuoha doesn’t see what all the fuss is about.
He said in a video for ESPN FC: “Listen I loved it. Haaland shows this sort of like immature childish side of him when it comes down to footballing moments.
“I tell you what though, for all the games that have been played between him and those two centre-backs, I bet there’s been some talking, not least Gabriel. Gabriel loves it as well! You just don’t see it as much.
“Haaland doing that, I personally find it quite funny. In reality, anyone that’s outraged, even if it’s Gabriel, well the solution is don’t let City score. You win the game, you say whatever you want. But when those people have their moments they can do stuff like that.”
It was reported yesterday that Haaland would not face any retrospective punishment for throwing the ball at Gabriel.
Haaland vs Gabriel is becoming a top PL rivalry
Haaland and Gabriel definitely both relish going up against one another and the pair’s rivalry is growing stronger.
Their personal battle is now one of the big talking points when City and Arsenal play against one another, and it is something that has everyone invested.
Regarding what £51 million star Haaland did, it really wasn’t anything that bad. It was a little bit naughty from Haaland, with Gabriel not even looking and instead digesting what had just happened.
But the player himself has brushed it off and taken it very well to his credit.
He gets that it is all just a part of competitive, top-level football. You can clearly see that they also actually both respect one another. No doubt he will seek some kind of revenge against Haaland the next time they meet if the opportunity arises.
