Roy Keane surprised by Pep Guardiola excuse after Man City draw at Arsenal

Roy Keane was far from sympathetic to Pep Guardiola’s claims that his Manchester City side were ‘incredibly tired’ against Arsenal due to travel and a busy schedule.

The heavyweight clash of the weekend in the Premier League ended 1-1 at the Emirates after drama at the start and end of the game.

Erling Haaland raced clear to put Manchester City ahead after just nine minutes and that looked like it was going to be enough to win three points.

However, City eventually cracked under heavy Arsenal pressure when Eberechi Eze pinged a ball over the back line for Gabriel Martinelli to run onto and expertly lift a finish over Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 93rd minute.

Guardiola admitted that the Gunners were the better side on the day but pointed to fatigue being an issue after playing in the Champions League against Napoli on Thursday night.

‘Arsenal were better and we were incredibly tired,’ Guardiola told Sky Sports.

‘Sometimes people don’t realise, the game against Napoli in the Champions League was so emotional, after that a recovery day and the day after you have to go four, five hours (to London).

‘Maybe you don’t know, you live in London, you have that privilege but the people who live in the north, they have four, five hours to arrive in London, it’s more fatigue and everything.

‘And guys, it’s a team that fought for the last two Premier Leagues to win it, arrive semi-finals of Champions League. It’s not just Man City who invest money, they did it as well. It’s so tough.’

He added: ‘We have a lot of fatigue with the same players, you now how many injured. John [Stones] comes back injured for the national team. We have [Rayan] Cherki, we have [Rayan] Ait-Nouri, Nathan [Ake] has been out. A lot of players maybe forget the rhythm because they have been injured.’

Keane was not impressed with Guardiola pointing to issues with his squad so early in the season and was not onboard with traveling from Manchester to London being an issue.

‘He is on about fatigue and the challenges of trying to win league titles but that is part of the challenge which City have done over the years so I am surprised by Pep,’ Keane said on Sky Sports.

‘We are in September, they are off the back of two home matches – they were fairly comfortable beating [Manchester] United and Napoli had a man sent off after 20 minutes!

‘They have not travelled from Russia or Poland… we all know the challenge is to be robust and play two or three games a week.

‘There must be other managers looking at Pep thinking you have problems with strength in depth… my goodness… so I didn’t like that angle Pep was coming from.

‘I am not really having Pep talking about fatigue when we are in September and they are on the back of two home matches, traveling to London.

‘Pep is a big boy, I am sure they can deal with that.’

Metro at the Match: Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City

Metro at the Match returns to bring you all the analysis from the biggest games of the season.

Here are our team’s key takeaways from Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City.

Anonymous Gyokeres again

‘Viktor Gyokeres struggled to have any sort of impact for Arsenal again, which is becoming a worrying pattern when they face a good side.

‘It remains early in the Swede’s Arsenal career but he has been concerningly anonymous in the majority of games he has played so far.

‘Goals have come at home against Leeds and Nottingham Forest, but he has been completely forgettable against the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Athletic Club and now Manchester City.

‘Gyokeres may well end the season with decent numbers if he continues to be a flat track bully, but will he win Arsenal the Premier League? Probably not.’ Phil Haigh – sports reporter.

Arteta gets midfield selection all wrong

‘Given the criticism Mikel Arteta faced for his midfield selection in the 1-0 defeat to Liverpool this season, it was a shock to see him go with the same trio at home to Manchester City.

‘Arsenal were far too negative in that match at Anfield and it was the same problem in the first-half against City as Arteta named Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino in his XI.

‘The Gunners were lacking in the creative department, especially with Martin Odegaard out injured and Bukayo Saka deemed not fit enough to start.

‘Eberechi Eze was dropped to the bench – a decision which baffled the pundits – and Arteta was surely aware of his error as he decided to bring on Eze and Saka for Merino and Noni Madueke at the break.

‘That’s twice this season Arteta has got his selection wrong in big games and he must learn from this mistake.’ Liam Grace – sports reporter.

Haaland wins this round with arch rival Gabriel

‘This was the latest battle in the ongoing war between Erling Haaland and Gabriel Magalhães and it was a clear win for the giant Norwegian.

‘Haaland left Gabriel in his wake as he sprinted beyond the Arsenal defence to score the opener, calmly finishing to put his team ahead.

‘The Brazilian was made to look slow, which he isn’t, but the Manchester City superstar looks like a powerful race horse when he gets going and he wasn’t going to be caught.

‘The rivalry was sparked when Haaland threw the ball at Gabriel’s head after a Manchester City equaliser in September last year, with the Arsenal man gaining revenge by screaming in the Norwegian’s face during the Gunners’ rampant 5-1 win in February.

‘No doubt Haaland has regained the upper hand.’ Phil Haigh – sports reporter.

The draw was a good result for league-leaders Liverpool who are already five points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to five wins from five games.

No other side has won more than three matches and only Crystal Palace are also unbeaten, with two wins and three draws so far.