Arsenal force Pep Guardiola into setting unwanted 600-game record

On his 601st match in charge of a top flight league game, Pep Guardiola watched his side record the lowest amount of possession of any of those contests.

Manchester City looked on course to beat their Premier League title rivals Arsenal thanks to an early Erling Haaland goal at the Emirates.

Gabriel Martinelli was the hero for Arsenal, though, as the substitute expertly scored an injury time equaliser, lifting an effort over Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The match finished 1-1 and Manchester City will be disappointed after leading the match from the ninth to the 93rd minute, but they did not have a great deal of the ball over the piece.

According to Opta Manchester City finished the game with just 32.8 per cent possession, the lowest ever for the club since Guardiola has been in charge.

In fact, it is the lowest that any Guardiola side has recorded in a top-flight game, with Sunday being his 601st.

The previous lowest that a Guardiola side recorded was also against Arsenal, when they had 36.5 per cent of the ball in March 2023.

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 this season 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.’ Phil Haigh – sports reporter.

No doubt Haaland has regained the upper hand.

It was perhaps the nature of scoring early as the away side, with Arsenal obviously being forced into being more aggressive in the second half than they were in the first.

Manchester City looked to hold onto their narrow lead late on, going 5-4-1 near the end of the game, but they were still undone by Martinelli.

Former City defender Micah Richards feels it was not entirely down to tactics or Arsenal’s level of aggression, but that Guardiola’s side were as bad on the ball as they have been for years.

‘That’s the poorest I’ve seen Man City on the ball in a long time,’ Richards said on Sky Sports. ‘Even though the possession was really low, even when they had the ball they kept giving it away, they kept punting it long.

‘It was very different when he changed the system and you go into a low block and Arsenal are playing very well, they are going to pin you back. But in terms of when Man City got the ball back it just wasn’t good enough.’

Guardiola admitted that the Gunners were the better side on the day, pleased to improve to a draw after losing 5-1 at the Emirates last season.

‘I think in general Arsenal was better,’ he said. ‘But we had a better result than we had last season, so we’ll take that.’

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice felt it was as dominant as his team has been over Manchester City, saying he has never seen Guardiola resort to a 5-4-1 in the past.

‘I think in my time here at Arsenal we probably haven’t dominated a game like that against Man City as we did today,’ Rice told Sky Sports.

‘In the first half we passed and moved really well and the same second half, it was constant pressure, but there was always that threat from them on the counter-attack.

‘But in the end we thoroughly deserved the goal, if we’d have come away losing the game, we’d have been really disappointed. In the end I think a point’s probably fair, but we obviously want to win that one.

‘In the end they changed to a back five, went 5-4-1 which I’ve never seen them do. They were obviously trying to hang on so to get the draw at the end was good for us.’