City have one win away to Arsenal in the last 17 meetings between the two sides, so it’s clear that travelling to the Emirates was never going to be easy.
City were without the in-form Jovetic and Fernando had also picked up an injury ruling him out for 2 weeks. A big blow for City as Fernando would definitely reinforce the centre of midfield alongside Fernandinho. Yaya Toure was also absent from the squad as he supposedly only returned from international duty the previous day to the clash with Arsenal.
So apart from that there were no major surprises to the City starting XI, Lampard came in for Yaya and Milner was pushed to the left.
As for Arsenal, new signing Danny Welbeck came in for Giroud and Aaron Ramsey made it back from what was a supposed ankle injury midweek for Wales.
Arsenal started lively, piling the pressure on in the first 20 minutes and making Joe Hart work with 2 saves inside the first 7-8 minutes. The lively start continued as Danny Welbeck who was not short of confidence for his debut broke free in the 13th minute, had a cheeky chip over Hart which just bounced off the post, City had only just got away with it. The blues soon settled in though, hitting Arsenal on some dangerous breaks.
If I was an Arsenal fan my main worry as I seen the starting lineups coming out would have been the right hand side, Monreal vs Navas was always going to go one way. And sure enough in the 28th minute, Alexis Sanchez’s mazy run was halted at the edge of the box and City broke. Navas in full flight, hugging the touch line and Aguero arriving just at the right time to poach the ball into the net after a low and splitting delivery in from the Spaniard. Sergio Aguero has now scored 9 goals in his last 11 Premier League appearances.
City went in at half time 1-0 up and Nasri came on for Lampard at the start of the second half. Arsenal came at City again early in the second half as Jack Wilshere got an equaliser, he breezed past Clichy and chipped Hart to beat him at his front post. On the build up to the goal however it was quite clear that Aguero was having his shirt tugged which resulted in City losing the ball. The Argentine along with team mates protested this, but all it resulted in was a booking for Sergio for dissent, one of the 7 yellow cards of the game.
Arsenal took the lead only 10 minutes later as Alexis Sanchez’s right footed shot from the centre of the box flew into the top right hand corner.The momentum was now with Arsenal and they turned the game around to take the lead with 16 minutes left. But just as Arsenal sensed victory the game was level once again as some desperate marking from a corner saw Demichelis beat Szczesny with a header the keeper touched but could not keep out.
Then, came a late push for a winner from City and they almost did win it several times, Kolarov smacking the post with a hopeful left footed strike and then the opposite post was hit as Dzeko started to cause Koscielny some problems in the box. City fought right up to the very last minute as former Arsenal star, Samir Nasri was caught offside as he poked the ball into the net in the 93rd minute.
The concern for Pellegrini will be that the control they had after taking the lead slipped away, although they ended the game as the likely winners. And when every point is precious in the Premier League the victory here would have been a big boost after the surprise loss to Stoke at the Etihad.
His disappointment was clear in his post match interview, listing the mistakes that referee Mark Clattenburg had made such as the clear handball from Wilshere in the box and the fouls on City players in the build up to both Arsenal goals. It is unlike Pellegrini to speak out like this but he definitely has a point, there was for sure some questionable officiating.
All in all, a draw is a good result to take away from the Emirates but I still feel a bitter taste in my mouth as we came so close in the end up. A big result is needed against Chelsea next week.
