Manchester City had a fiery encounter with Arsenal in the Premier League last weekend.
Having battled the Gunners for the two previous league titles, City rescued a point in the dying breaths of Sunday’s big game to walk away with a 2-2 scoreline and stay two points above Arsenal in the table.
Throughout the game at the Etihad Stadium, frustrations arose between both sets of players, with referee Michael Oliver giving out nine yellows and one red card.
In fact, Ian Wright said that he didn’t like seeing Erling Haaland throw the ball at Gabriel’s head after John Stones’ late goal.
Following the match, some behind-the-scenes information has arisen regarding how the North London club have reacted to some comments made by one of City’s key players.
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How Arsenal reacted to Bernardo Silva’s post-match comments after 2-2 Man City draw
A recent report from The Independent said this on the subject of how both City and Arsenal have been questioning aspects of the other club away from the football side of things.
It said: “One reason this type of talk never really gets out is because it is usually confined to boardrooms, as well as legalese-filled Premier League meetings.
“That was also why Sunday was different, and maybe marked the start of something new and more acrimonious.
“Figures within Arsenal have been aggravated by talk of “dark arts” and arguments about cynicism and the right way to play from City.
“Even Bernardo’s comments have been perceived as an attempt to put some moral spin on how the teams play, given the allusion to Liverpool essentially fronting up.
““There was only one team that came to play football,” Bernardo said on Sunday. “The other came to play to the limits of what was possible to do and allowed by the referee, unfortunately.”
“Many at Arsenal find such talk to be the most astounding front given the Premier League hearing that is hanging over City, as well as the fact they previously agreed to a 2014 settlement with Uefa over breaches of Financial Fair Play rules, and were even fined for non-compliance in the overturning of the initial Champions League ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020.”
On-field and off-field matters should remain separate
Silva completed the full 90 minutes against the Gunners and ended up being one of the three City players to be booked for arguing with the referee.
While Silva has every right to share his thoughts on how he saw the game he played in and how the opposition presented themselves on the day, this shouldn’t grant anyone at Arsenal the right to then question what may be going on behind the scenes at City and situations that have nothing to do with the players.
