Emirates draw helped both sides a little but Pep Guardiola’s team had something Arsène Wenger’s side are lackingTo borrow an old sporting joke, Arsène Wenger hasn’t managed 1,163 Arsenal matches. He has instead managed the same Arsenal match 1,163 times. At a time when Wenger’s team stand accused of congealment and standing still, it seemed oddly fitting that England’s second greatest modern-day spin-bowler Monty Panesar was guest of honour on the pitch at half-time against Manchester City. Although in fairness Shane Warne’s famous, and indeed unfair, jibe about Panesar playing the same Test 33 times without learning or progressing doesn’t really fit here.With Arsenal the real stasis set in around the end of the austerity years, as opportunities appeared to...
Belgian midfielder gives Pep Guardiola’s team a degree of control by exploiting gaps in Arsenal’s defence, but the visitors’ frailties are also exposedArsenal and Manchester City played out a peculiar Premier League match that shifted between periods of incredible intensity and moments when neither side seemed particularly bothered by the outcome. It felt more like a pre-season friendly, and the fact the game’s first two goalscoring chances came from crazy deflections, with David Ospina blasting the ball at Raheem Sterling at one end, then Gaël Clichy hammering a clearance into Danny Welbeck at the other, summarised the strangeness.Indeed, the pattern was the entire opposite of what you expect from a top-level match which, usually, lack structure in the opening minutes...
Defending was not the order of the day in a zany game that provided a sharp reminder of why England’s top clubs are so far behind Europe’s eliteA while back Fifa’s resident tousle-haired visionary Marco van Basten came up with a ragbag of extreme measures – abolishing offside, introducing sin-bins – designed to free modern football from the dominance of deathly all-out team defence. Presumably he has not been to the Emirates Stadium recently. Or indeed, on this evidence, the Etihad Stadium either.Watching Arsenal and Manchester City play out this zany, at times slightly wild, 2-2 draw it was tempting to place an urgent call to Switzerland. Marco, old boy, call off the search. We’re years ahead of you. The...
The teams in the top four appear favoured by form and the fixture list while Arsenal and Manchester United have too much to do despite games in handWhen the Premier League returns after the international break it does so as if making up for lost momentum; a full midweek programme follows this coming weekend’s fixtures and by the time everyone has played twice in four or five days the remaining games will be down to single figures and the run-in will be under way.Chelsea’s 10-point lead means they are universally regarded as a shoo-in for the title, though by that reckoning Arsenal have no chance of overhauling Tottenham, who are nine points ahead of their London rivals. While Arsenal have...
Faced with the club missing out on Champions League football again, Manchester United’s manager makes the point that it is harder to buy successDoes José Mourinho have a point about power being divided in the Premier League, or is the manager of Manchester United simply trying to get his excuses in early?United still have a job on their hands to crack the top four this season, let alone get back to winning titles, and should a third season in four arrive without achieving Champions League football questions are going to be asked about the effectiveness of his stewardship in the light of all the money spent. Perhaps in anticipation of that scenario, Mourinho has just observed that winning anything in...