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Time to wrap things up. Arsenal’s players and supporters will be remember 2 February 2025 for a helluva long time, hopefully forever. Goodnight.
[John Stones says the dressing-room is an angry and emotional place…] It has to be when you lose a football match like that, especially the last 25 minutes. It’s not easy to start the game 1-0 down but the team reacted really well again, I would say until 2-1, maybe 3-1. After that we lost it*.
At 1-1 we had an action, we tried to find Omar [Marmoush] and start a two-v-one with Savinho, and we lose the ball, they shoot, deflection… Then we concede another goal and another goal and another goal.
In the first half we controlled the game, but I can’t defend the players – or myself, first, of course – for the last 25 minutes. The rest of the game we played well; that’s my feeling.
[Are you saying the players didn’t follow the gameplan?] No, the players are proud, they wanted to solve it. We have to do it together against a good team. In the first half Arsenal were a little bit scared but when it went 3-1 they were confident. In that moment, you have to do what you have to do.
[Why do you keep collapsing under pressure?] No, every game is different. It’s football. You have to know in certain positions when there is a risk. But the really is that we played long balls. And what happened every time we played long balls?
[You lost it]
We lost it and they came back stronger. Winning balls against Saliba and Gabriel is not easy, not even for Erling. The last 20 minutes we were tired and affected emotionally. Football is sometimes about moments – you have to resist and then come back in the good moments.
[On Haaland barely touching the ball] He has two central defenders and two holding midfielders so narrow. Sometimes it’s not easy to find him. You have to be patient.
[Why are you losing the ball more often in dangerous areas?] Maybe the opponents are more aggressive. Sometimes it happens but this season we have gone behind in many, many games and lost points.
[Are you in transition?] We will see. We will see. The players are getting old, just like the manager is getting old; it’s normal. But we’re still in February, there are a lot of games to play.
* I’m not sure he meant this in the colloquial sense, it was hard to hear what he said afterwards.
Apparently the Arsenal DJ played Kendrick Lamar’s Humble at the final whistle. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait for their next meeting, ideally in a Champions League semi-final.
David Hytner’s match report
“Looking at the table three days ago, I couldn’t help but feel that goal difference was a huge advantage for City in the Champions League race,” says Liam Curson. “It was 11 better than Forests. Now, they’re both on +13. Insanity.”
John Stones gives the City reaction
It’s difficult. All of us don’t take losing well. It’s hard for me to put into words actually, straight after a game like that. Our pride’s hurt… sorry to the fans who travelled to come and watch that. How we played in the last 30 minutes was not acceptable.
As a collective, it’s not us. It’s not nice to be involved in that when you know it’s not your team or yourself. Credit to Arsenal, this is not an easy place to come to and they played really well against us. In the first hour we played some great football at times and we were in the game. It was a swinging point, and unfortunately it swung the wrong way for us.
I’m angry, upset, personally and collectively, at how the game finished. For many reasons.
[Why the collapse?] I dunno. That’s the magic question. To equalise was a great feeling and a good situation to be in. To concede after that from a deflection… I could have stayed more square, maybe, I’ll have to watch it back. It’s a split-second decision. We can’t let those situations get on top of us. We stopped doing the things we were meant to… difficult for me to put into words.
To allow them to have so much of the ball towards the end is frustrating when we’re a team that is usually so good at keeping the ball and controlling the tempo of the game. I’ve been on both sides of it and today was the wrong side to be on. The dressing-room is an emoptional place in many ways.
We want to bounce back, quickly. Not erase it – I believe these things make you stronger and will make us realise what we’ve done over the last eight years and what we’re capable of doing. We need to make it right.
I wouldn’t say [City’s era of dominance] is coming to an end. There are a lot of different things that I still haven’t figured out as to why it hasn’t clicked. The heart’s there, the passion’s there; everyone’s got the right intention. We all need to stick together. That’s a key point, that we don’t start pointing fingers and that we look at ourselves first and foremost.
Declan Rice’s verdict
It’s an unbelievable score. From the moment we went on the pitch we had that fire in our belly; we really wanted to win the game after what happened at the Etihad.
Until they scored their goal I thought it was an even game. They still posed a threat and had a lot of the ball. We had to sit deep at times. They’re still a top side and they can still punish teams.
When it went 1-1 you think maybe the momentum could shift, but we got Thomas’s goal from another high press and keep pushing after that. To win 5-1 was top but I thought it was a really tough game; that’s how it felt out there anyway.
The rivalry has been building for a while. They nicked the title off Arsenal the year I wasn’t here, then last season they beat us to the title. It’s been hard to accept that, and then with everything that went on at the Etihad earlier in the season, you do have that fire in the stomach. We wanted to make amends.
We’re so, so happy. But there’s still such a long way to go and we’re still a couple of points (sic) off the top and that’s where we want to be.
[On getting two assists] Yeah I was really pleased with that, especially the last one. I don’t think many people think I’ve got that in my locker! I saw it five seconds before and knew I was gonna play it out to Ethan even before I got the ball. I need to keep adding goals and assists to my game, especially if I keep playing the No8 position.
I’m feeling way better than I did at the start of the season. I just want to keep going and help this club win silverware. That’s why I’m here and why everyone else is here.
Liverpool are still quite far in front, especially with the game in hand. Respect to them; it’s down to us to hunt them. We knew we had to win today. It’s been one of the best days since I’ve been at Arsenal.
Martin Odegaard
Tough game, top performance. With a scoresheet like that it can’t be better so we’re very happy. In the end I think we got what we deserved.
[On Havertz] He had a massive impact again today with and without the ball. He’s a top player, an intelligent player. We understand each other well and have a good connection.
Kai Havertz
We managed to press them quite well, we didn’t give them much time. Our energy was good and we took our chances.
[What’s the key to the press?] It’s the timing, you know? We work on it a lot. We [Havertz and Odegaard] are the first ones to press but we need everyone to push and the rest of the team did it excellently as well.
[On his goal] It was lovely to see it go in. I was a bit frustrated from my chance in the first half.
I think I did Nwaneri a disservice. Yes, his curler wasn’t right in the corner but it was close enough and a brilliant goal by anyone, never mind a 17-year-old.
The updated Premier League table
For whatever reason, and you can’t argue with the outcome, Arsenal only really went for City at 2-1. When it was 1-0, effectively the same score, they were happy to play at a slower pace. Maybe, given the devastating timing of Thomas Partey’s goal, they sensed City’s vulnerability; if so their game awareness is immaculate because they upped the tempo and were rampant for the rest of the match.
“My dad who was an Arsenal supporter from when he was a lad in the 1920s passed it onto me,” writes David Paradine. “He died more than 30 years ago but at times like this I still find myself sharing the moment with him.”
I didn’t think I’d be mentioning Minnie Driver today but she was on a fascinating podcast in which she and a psychotherapist (I think) talk about how your relationship with your parents evolves even after they’ve gone. I’d recommend it, it was really thought-provoking.
Edit: thanks to Jon Hallam for sending in the link.
There was no needle at the final whistle, at least not on the field. Gabriel was engaged in conversation with Matheus Nunes, who looked tempted to chin him at one stage, but he thought better of it and Jack Grealish walked him down the tunnel.
Arsenal have moved to within six points of Liverpool after savaging Manchester City in the second half. When Erling Haaland scored a superb equaliser City were arguably favourites; Thomas Partey scored 38 seconds after the restart and then City were taken apart.
Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri scored fine goals, each rousing because of the personal context, and the last 10 minutes might be the most humiliating of Pep Guardiola’s entire career. City didn’t look beaten, they looked broken.
Wow.
Pep Guardiola after the match. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Arsenal fans mock Erling Haaland and tell him to ‘stay humble’. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Rice, the unsung hero of this win, pinged a crossfield pass out to Nwaneri on the right. He cut inside from the right, 20 yards from goal, and whipped a curler into the far side of the goal. It wasn’t right in the corner but it was still a beautiful goal, an homage to the injured Bukayo Saka.
Ethan Nwaneri, 17 years old, completes the humiliation with a delicious goal!
Ethan Nwaneri of Arsenal scores his team’s fifth goal. Photograph: Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Nwaneri’s strikes curls into the corner. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
90 min There will be three minutes of added misery for City. Even allowing for the devastating timing of Arsenal’s second goal, it’s been another extraordinary collapse.
90 min: Arsenal substitution Riccardo Calafiori and Raheem Sterling replace Kai Havertz and the wonderful Myles Lewis-Skelly. I’ve just realised that, when he scored, Lewis-Skelly mimicked Erling Haaland’s meditation celebration. Six months ago he hadn’t played a single minute in the Premier League; now he’s goading the league’s biggest goal machine.
89 min City have had some terrible defeats this seaosn. This feels like the most humiliating, possibly because of the sneering and the schadenfreude coming from every corner of the ground.
Meanwhile, Nwaneri’s corner is headed against the outside of the near post by Timber. The angle was almost impossible.
88 min “Some matches are more personally resonant than others,” says Kári Tulinius. “A friend converted me to Arsenal fandom, and today I travelled to his hometown for his funeral. I don’t think the universe takes heed of that sort of thing, but I can’t help but be thankful that the Gunners have played so well today.”
I’m really sorry to hear that. When Lewis-Skelly scored I started thinking about Andrew Hurley, an Arsenal fan and MBM regular who died last year at a shockingly young age. I wish he was around to enjoy this.
87 min Bernardo Silva, pushed to breaking point by some olé football, leaves plenty on an Arsenal player. I’m nopt sure who it was but the ball had long gone.
86 min “We’re not scoring enough goals,” says Matt Emerson. “We look light up front. We need a forward in the transfer window…”
Stay humble.
85 min “You’re getting sacked in the morning!” shout the Arsenal fans, who are having the kind of party they never thought possible against a Pep Guardiola team.
84 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Ethan Nwaneri and Mikel Merino replace Trossard, who was good, and Odegaard, who was Odegood.
Sorry.
83 min Haaland is penalised for a foul on Gabriel. He offers his hand, which Gabriel ignores. “He’s gotta snap soon, surely,” laughs Gary Neville on Sky. “I don’t think anyone who’s played football would begrudge Erling Haaland losing his rag and going for Gabriel.”
81 min The odd thing about this is that Arsenal now need a favour from City, who host Liverpool later in the month. Arsenal could win their last 14 games and still not catch Liverpool, but the manner and emotion of this victory will make them feel they are still well in the title race.
80 min There are more goals out there for Arsenal. City look shell shocked.
79 min The key moment in the game, no question, was Partey’s goal at 1-1. City were on top when Haaland equalised; he seemed to have shut the home crowd up. And he had – but only for about a minute and a half.
Arsenal have destroyed City in transition all day. This time Martinelli, found superbly by Partey, led the counter-attack from deep in his own half. He ran to the edge of the area, waiting for Havertz to make a run outside, and then gave him the ball.
Havertz skipped calmly back inside Stones and slapped the ball into the far corner. It’s a terrific finish, even more so after his earlier miss, and he slides on his knees in celebration. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him celebrate a goal quite so demonstratively, not even in the Champions League final.
A moment of pharmaceutical-grade euphoria for Kai Havertz!
Arsenal’s Kai Havertz scores their fourth goal. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters
74 min Lewis-Skelly zips infield then sets off on a penetrative straight run before being fouled by Haaland. “He’s a joy! He’s a joy!” says Gary Neville on commentary. Even Ashley Cole wasn’t this good at 18; in fact at the same age he hadn’t played a senior game.
73 min Arsenal have upped the tempo since going 2-1 ahead and City have struggled to cope. I can’t really believe I’m typing that sentence.
72 min: Double substitution for Manchester City Kevin De Bruyne and James McAtee replace Omar Marmoush, who found the intensity of the game too much at this stage of his education, and Phil Foden.
71 min Odegaard is booked for dissent after being penalised for a challenge on Kovacic just outside the City area.
68 min Rice, who has been fabulous, leads a three-on-three break and plays the ball through to Martinelli in the inside-right channel. He smashes a shot across goal that is pushed away by the diving Ortega. That’s a good save, although maybe Rice’s pass pushed Martinelli slightly wide.
Moments later Bernardo Silva – as bad a loser as he is good a player – has a little kick at the prostrate Trossard. It wasn’t strong enough for VAR to get involved.
66 min “Has my palate become jaded after all these years, or is this top-of-the-table clash a bad cover version of a face-off?” says Paul Griffin. “Having the magic of Duran Duran’s Public Enemy cover, Miley Cyrus’s Smells Like Teen Spirit?, or EinsturzendeNeubauten’s cover of The Wurzels ‘I am a cider drinker’ than the originals?”
Not even Johnny Cash could improve on this original.
A spine-tingling moment at the Emirates. The teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly, whose world seemed to have collapsed eight days ago, has scored his first goal in senior football to give Arsenal a 3-1 lead.
Declan Rice, on the left, played a terrific, sharp pass into Lewis-Skelly on the edge of the area. He took it beautifully on the half turn, moved away from Stones and curled a right-footed shot that went through the left hand of the diving Ortega.
Maybe Ortega should have done better, but that’s the most incredible moment for Lewis-Skelly, an 18-year-old who was booked in the return fixture before he had played a minute of senior football – and who was asked, rhetorically, “who the eff are you?” by Erling Haaland.
Nothing stirs the soul of a football fan quite like watching young players write their own fairytales; Arsenal fans in the ground will remember that moment forever.
Who the eff are you?
Myles Lewis-Skelly of Arsenal scores his team’s third goal whilst under pressure from Manuel Akanji and John Stones of Manchester City. Photograph: David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images
Lewis-Skelly does Haaland’s celebration. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters
61 min A side-angle replay shows that Foden had a clear view; Foden was trying to sweep a pass into Marmoush but undercooked it badly.
59 min That was a weirdly poor pass from Foden. Gary Neville is speculating that his view of Partey might have been obscured by the referee. I’ve no idea, but I do know this game has exploded into life. Gvardiol finds Marmoush on the left side of the area; his first-time cross is crucually cut out by the sliding Gabriel.
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