Arsenal v Man City Review – Arsenal hold the Champions right to the end but our hearts were broken

Arsenal faced Man City at the Emirates without Mikel Arteta on the sidelines, but it certainly didn’t affect the players too much.

We started with Arteta’s favourite starting XI, and they kickred off with great intent and showed no fear in front of the recordbreaking EPL Champions, although City were also quick out of the box with De Bruyne and Sterling giving Arsenal fans a couple of heart-stopping moments early on.

After 10 minutes Arsenal had a very close call for a penalty, but after the long VAR check the ref ruled that Ederson touched the ball first.

But by the half hour mark, Arsenal shocked City by finding Saka just out side the City box and he coolly slotted it into the corner. Although City were no slouches, the lead was well deserved and the Gunners held on to go into the break with a slender lead.

Just after the kick off, Martinelli was teeing up a shot when he was clattered to the ground but yet again there was no refs decision in our favour. The young Brazilian had another good chance but couldn’t quite get the right connection.

Then disaster (and VAR struck) after Stuart Attwell dismissed a penalty call against Xhaka (of course) but it was clear that the replay would show Xhaka blocked the legs and pulled the shirt of the diving City striker.

So a penalty was given and Mahrez made no mistake for the equalizer from the spot.

While the VAR was being discussed Gabriel stupidly meddled with the penalty spot and was given a totally unneccesary booking.

Two minutes late Gabriel was off! His blood was up and he slammed into Gabriel Jesus on the halfway line. Another stupid booking meant he was off and the Gunners were down to ten men.

But they gallantly held on right until the 93rd minute, when Rodri broke our hearts with a desperately late winner and there was little time for another impossible comeback.

All we can say is that Arsenal’s youngsters fought like lions, but the refs and VAR (and stupid decisions from Gabriel and an off day from Martinelli) lost us a point in the end.

It will surely give us great hope for the future with a top class display….

Tags Arsenal v Man City

205 Comments

  1. Disgusting officiation. Man City couldn’t make any shot on target, so they had to resort to diving

    Guardiola is truly a master of football dark arts and hopefully Arteta can use similar schemes to fool the referees in the future games

    1. Guardiola been getting by with this pressing style which scares everybody and Man City are lauded like they’e the best EPL team ever when its his system which is accounting for most of his wins. I was thrilled to see us dominate him using his same style but the result leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Most teams in the league except some few just sit back and get bent over by them so I was happy to see us dominate them

      1. Yeah, Arsenal managed to bypass Man City’s high press through Ramsdale’s long distribution, Saka’s strength and Tomiyasu’s height. Smart tactics from Arteta and the coaches, unfortunately Man City players are the best divers in the league

    2. @GAI,

      VAR IS A JOKE. THAT ODEGAARD FOUL WAS A PENALTY.
      Why do we have more incompetent referees in the EPL?
      The club should complain honestly. These are moments that determine the outcomes of matches.

      The match we played against Man United, in the first half, Tomiyasu was brought down in the first half but VAR was on leave at that moment.

      1. The officials have been really harsh to us and what they’ve done in today’s match was really unfair

      2. And against Everton he was almost trafled by an opposition player but …..You cannot have contrle over ref’s decision….

      3. It’s not poor refereeing it is corrupt refereeing. Atwell should have looked at the Ederson scythe just as he looked at the Xhaka shit pull. One law for the Sheikh one for Arsenal. Wonder why?

    3. Don’t want a win that way, diving like Mane at Liverpool.

      Gabriel lost his head, stupid and pointless yellow scuffing penalty spot. Xhaka again involved in controversy, simply lightning rod for that type stuff.

      Arsenal 11 fouls, 5 yellows and 1 Red. City fouls basically just warnings. Poor poor ref today, no way balanced officiating, but our mistakes cost us the game and points.

      Convinced Xhaka has to go next year, simply had enough. He subtracts from the team more than he adds, evidence been there for years. Simply not a good fit for PL.

      Arsenal clearly the better team today, and City struggle when opponents go at them and play into space.

      We are a different animal when we are direct and push forward. Get forward, quick passes and NOT dwell on the ball.

      Hope that is our identity going forward not static positioning and possession passing.

      1. We were definitely the better team in the first 45 minutes, before Silva’s trickery happened. I agree that we need to find Xhaka’s successor in the summer, because he often makes bad decisions in the games

      2. So agree with you Durand. Xhaka is a total liability. he set the team in motion in nose diving. He should know that VAR will punish with those in the VAR studio more or less bias towards city. With VAR its still people making the decision and some decision will always be bias no matter what.

      3. Wasn’t for scruffing the penalty spot, it was for a remark he said to the ref, but all unavoidable til the brain fart Xhaka decides once again to ruin all the good work

    4. City money buys players, coaches and refs. Disgusting league. If not penalties, red cards, whatever, they’ll give them 6 minutes to finish it.

        1. After city scored the penalty, the ref was totally one sided in city favour. the premier league need better refs.

          1. Yes they need to bring in European refs, might not be a lot better but might take some of the bias out!!

    5. Mancity only get card if they take their shirt off otherwise they won’t even if they kick the opponent or break their legs they are free to commit sins after sins and goes unpunished. They are confident they won’t get penalty so they r free to commit foul in their d area. Despite that xhaka being xhaka and Martinelly missing empty net was biggest moment.

      1. I hope someone does a thorough investigation on those oil clubs. I think many people have forgot about Juventus’ Calciopoli scandal

    6. gai Hey it was a penalty Xhaka was caught on the wrong foot and resulted in pulling his shirt which is a foul in anybody’s book and has for Gabriel he is too emotional we need to find somebody else that position Apart from that we played very very well

      1. Silva was deliberately falling before Xhaka did that and I believe Magalhaes should’ve got a yellow card

    7. Today’s loss is very painful. Arsenal need a strong CF that can be very strong physically to pose a threat to backline of teams like City. I wish we could do everything possible to get Calvert L of Everton.

      1. Man City bought their world class technical foulers and divers for more than one billion. We only have Lacazette for the dirty tricks in the front line

        I bet Calvert-Lewin will be perfect for Arteta’s system, but he’s gonna cost a fortune due to English tax

      1. Skills1000 Odegaard threw himself to the floor 6.4 for the dive had he just gone down he was to Theatrical

        1. The referee didn’t award him a penalty and he shouldn’t have given it to Silva either, unfortunately VAR were only emphasized from certain angles

    1. Fit, the reasons why EPL referees are ignored for officiating at major tournaments has been on display in spades this season. Mike Reilly and his minions are either incompetent or corrupt, they can take their choose. The major issue is inconsistencies in application of rules and VAR. As a player, the one thing you look for is consistency.
      The big question is why Mike Reilly is so against the application of VAR in line with the rest of Europe? Simple answer: it will show up the incompetence of his referees.

  2. From how we’ve played and depending on future results against some top opposition this team is capable of being 2nd this season. I can see us getting the better of the smaller clubs. Guardiola can’t even contain another team when they use his press against City. For me this is an undeserved win for City and I’m actually annoyed we haven’t won. Arteta has now seen how to play Pep well tactically and Pep will now always find it hard to beat us because its basically the same system he uses. It was on route to become our best match since Wenger left the club and I’m proud of them and happy Arteta is actually proving his potential now and not later. Shout out to Mr Liabilty though.

      1. One of the most annoying signings for me ever made by Wenger. If he wasn’t here no-one would want him and if we played against him we’d see him as nothing special

  3. I can’t say how proud I am of the boys.
    Even after going a man down.
    PL refereeing is a joke but that’s not even news.
    Unlucky boys, Ref clearly on City’s payroll because I don’t understand all that officiating.
    The growth and progress is so clear to see.
    Let’s pick it up in the next game boys.
    We are proud of you all, and shout out to the fans at the Emirates.
    I’ve never seen so much fans stay back after a loss.
    They’re there applauding the boys, a whole lot of them. We are growing together as a team and club.
    Shout out to everyone, and shout-out to the referee, he’ll be getting his paycheck before the day runs out.

      1. Yes. it was a really good performance from most of the team. we can push on and get to 3rd if we continue playing like this and getting better.

    1. Hear hear Eddie. It was a win in my eyes. Proud of the boys. This is the type of football I want to see. The shirt removing goal at the end just showed how tough the game was for city. They couldn’t play before the red card

    2. Eddie, credit to Mikel Arteta and the players. This 1-2 loss to Manchester City following the 0-5 loss at the beginning of the season, shows the progress that has been made.
      This loss hopefully has a positive in adding to the experience and hardening up of what is a young team. They have to cut out the stupid mistakes. Arsenal’s missed chances have come back to haunt them in this game.
      Surely Arteta has now had enough of Xhaka; a top class replacement should be Edu/Arteta’s number one priority, otherwise Xhaka will take Arteta down.

  4. so livid right now.

    boys played very well and were undone by cheating refs and 2 foolish decisions by Gab and Xaka

  5. My heart isn’t broken. I’m just angry. The table wont show it but we beat Peps City. Even if we got zero points out of it. Well done to the team and Arteta.

  6. Why didnt Rodri get sent off for goading in front of home fans and taking off his shirt?

    Xhaka penalty was soft but lets face it, he made it quite easy to call it and its not the first, second or even 5th time he’s done it.

    We had chances, but blew them (Martinelli empty goal). Then Xhaka made a silly mistake and then Gabriel made sure we wouldn’t win.

    Bad refereeing for sure but we let ourselves down in the end. Had we taken our chances and kept cool head, we wouldve won.

    1. Edit: I think we played really well otherwise, but against top teams, you have to bury the few chances and not commit silly mistakes. City had zero chances foe 55 minutes so its obvious they’ll resort to cheating.

    2. standing ovation for Mr Granit Xhaka, I felt he was the fella on City’s payroll. I see a bright future for Arsenal without Xhaka, but will have to patiently wait till then. Stupid decision by Mikel to block his move to Roma. It paid dearly today. Gabby needs to keep his cool, definitely not captain material. The lads were robbed of a win by Xhaka and a draw by poor officiating.

  7. I’m so proud of our players. Our performance has really improved. Great game from all the lads.
    Silva was clearly diving but Xhaka should know better than holding on the jersey of an opponent in the penalty box.

  8. Proud of the lads. A loss like that will only give them confidence and make them better. Xhaka was reckless and Gabriel stupid but god almighty how bad is officiating in the Premier League? So embarrassing. Why is “clear and obvious error” so difficult for these muppets to understand?

    Not excusing the shirt grab but I truly believe that if that was any player in the PL other than Xhaka it would not have been given. It’s like the red he got a few years ago for tripping someone at the halfway line.

    I hope someone is getting paid because this level of incompetence is just depressing to even imagine.

    1. Agree 100%, can’t believe the hate Xhaka is getting in these comments. Apart from the pen he had a really good game. Could see the desire and effort. What more can we ask than giving it his all? He was back there in the right position. Like you say, any other team/player and that’s not a pen

      1. Really, were you even watching the game? There was absolutely no need to tug the shirt, the f..wit of a player lost us another 3 points today. He has had more chances than lazarus, wengers BIGGEST Failing, signing that swiss p…k. As usual, he slowed our attack in most instances.
        And the failing of the novice was to leave him on

  9. Nope…..that’s not the Arsenal way…..don’t want Arsenal players to have a reputation for diving……!

      1. I also despise the dirty tricks, but some of Arteta’s detractors only care about points and never take the opposition’s dirty methods/ unfair officiation into account

  10. We played well but a loss os a loss.

    Penalty is soft but Xhaka completely wrong footed, he didn’t even know where the ball was. Blindly throws his leg out and grabs shirt, giving the ref a decision to make. Nothing unexpected from him, idiot. Like watching a 8 year old defend, flat footed completely.

    There are the games we need to pick up points to secure top 4. Without the odd draw/win against the bigger team we’ll always struggle to get CL football.

    1. Harsh but I have to agree.. Xhaka was MILES OFF PACE. Silva literally owned him, so obviously he resorts to tripping him. Foul itself was almost non existent, however that trailing leg and shirt pull are completely unnecessary.

  11. They got completely outplayed all over the pitch and the ref decided to step in.
    Proud of everyone even though Xhaka made it too easy for Silva who was already going down. Gabriel who let us down and Martinelli who should’ve calmly taken that shot.
    A whole lot of positives depite those three let downs.
    Everyone’s so proud of them as the fans in the stadium showed it.
    Even though we don’t have the points, we won that game. That’s enough for me

    1. Agree Eddie I’m totally satisfied with what we put out there. Arteta now needs to calm the side down. Rightfully we’ll be angry but if we put on the same display against spurs we will be in a great position. We just have to move on and do it again. There’s nothing we can do about corrupt refs at this moment so we’ll control what we can .

      1. RSH I don’t get why it’s always against Arsenal. After that performance I’m certain the boys will know they can face any team. I expect them to get the result against Spurs.
        Today was so frustrating

      2. RSH corrupt .Ref bullshit What the F**K was Gabriel doing damaging the penalty spot booked then 2 minutes dumping Jesus to the floor we don’t need players like him he is too emotional he cost us a win or at lease a point

    2. @ Eddie.
      This referee is a joke. I am disappointed by the outcome.
      Thomas Partey played well today.
      What is wrong with Xhaka? His concentration levels and irrational behaviour is getting too much.

      1. Xhaka constantly makes it hard for anyone to defend him, but today the three errors in the game by our playerd can slide

  12. Small details cost arsenal…..
    However that officiating is so BAD.

    Odegaard didn’t get the pk. VAR didn’t check or told the ref to look at the monitor. Here comes Silva with a two step dive. It was checked and given. VAR is so inconsistent.

    I thought Gabriel red card would have been avoided.. He led his team down with those few mins cards (yellow and red)

    Small margins like Martinelli miss after Ake clearance, first half half chances couldn’t be converted but today its on the officiating. So BAD….

    Congrats to the lads. They played well today and I m proud of them. Onward and upward

    1. Ref and var an absolute disgrace. I wont even mention game as its pointless considering what went on but I’m sure there will be some on here who disagree with the popular opinion that the officials cheated which was expected in the 2nd half

  13. I wonder how the writer tends to suggest that the penalty against Xhaka was a deserving one. In a world without VAR, there is no way in the world that’s a penalty, all made the more baffling considering we had a clear penalty overturned in the first half. Emotions got over Gabriel but that’s still no excuse for two stupid bookings to practically hand over the three points to Man City. Until the VAR incident, we were good value for the 3 points, city didn’t even get a sniff at Ramsdale goal at the first half with zero shots on target, but ended up winning the game with their two shots. The manner of the defeat, though painful, it’s still a joy to watch how the boys stood toe to toe against city, the Arsenal of old would have wilted but the truth is it’s these fine margins that counts come end of season. Hats off to Thomas Partey, definitely my MOTM. Shows how much we’re going to miss him when he jets off to AFCON

    1. That’s actually the situation where a stupid ref can give a penalty, but VAR overrules it. Would’ve happened if it was the other way round and the Arsenal player would’ve been booked for diving. DISGUSTING!

  14. Im gutted. We had them until that pen. Should of been 2-0 before that, robbed by Var. Then up steps Xhaka a soft red crap officiating game gone.

    But unlike before this won’t ruin my wkend. We played damn good and made City look 2nd best. We are a few players away from a really great team. Lets hope we get them this window and never see Xhaka in a red shirt again. COYG

    1. We had a blatant penalty in in the first half and the ref did it not even in look at it. So be much for VAR…who are not worthy of their jobs. So shameful, and the biased pundits do not give a shite. Pretty dishonest.

      1. Those tv pundits? Don’t get me started on tv pundit bias. Nope. Tv volume down and synced to any number on YT channels.

        Man we were good today. But…these little spots of errors was the difference between us and City today. Cost us big time. Var didn’t help.

        Moving on up. COYG!!!!

      2. Sad to say , when the australian ifiot is in the var seat, we will never get the decision. I am ashamed as an aussie, that this poor overrated specimen of a ref made it in the epl
        How many times has he f..d up in tbe var seat. Must hate arsenal

    2. Give credit when it’s due. Though Xhaka gave the refs something to think about, still think he had a pretty good game, especially the first half where alongside Partey really bossed the midfield. Truth is of all our current options, he’s still the best to be fielded alongside Partey

      1. I can see where yr coming from but the man cant help himself. Hes a liability and if theres someone out there better then him then we need to go get. He’s cost us too many games since he’s been here. Tired of yellow every game Xhaka

      2. What??…as i have so often been proven correct by that swiss cheese, arsenal is a 10 man team with him on.
        He slows plays, gives him teamates hospital passes, has no footballing brain thus nil positioning and always costs us points
        Postives? Sack the novice put in the coach today instead

      3. This is what he does many times over. We have lost countless number of points due to his stupidity.
        At his age, he can only get worse. Do away with him

  15. Very impressive game from us and gave very little to city attacking wise but once again our downfall starts from Xhaka which seems to be more often than not ,a needless pull on his shirt which swung the game no matter how anybody can defend him that was the turning point .
    No point dwelling on him so I won’t ,positives partey looked like the player we all thought we would be getting when we signed him MOTM for me .
    Odegaard who I’ve been critical of played a good first half and carried on his good form from the past few weeks
    And Martinelli was a thorn in Man City’s side all afternoon ,maybe should have scored but maybe the ref just put him off before he shot .

    1. How Xhaka is still rated by many I do not know. Calling a player above average doesn’t mean they are not good at somethings. He can distribute well but he’s limited in skill set and his awareness and concentration is suspect. This won’t be the last from him.

  16. The refs and var taking points away from Arsenal. This happens year after year, and season after season. At the end of the day, what everyone will be looking at is our league position and calling us all sorts of names.
    Whatever Arsenal win is always against all odds while others receive all the help – deserved and undeserved. As far EPL and pgmob are concerned, Arsenal will never be allowed to win the league again.

  17. Awesome first half. Partey was tremendous today. Motm to me.

    Diving apart, why xhaka needs to pick the shirt inside the box? One of our most experienced players making childyst errors, throwing all the effort from the guys out…and this is not the first, neather the second Time for xhaka…

    And then they gave him the captain armband??? It’s a joke.

    Xhaka needs to go out now, but he will be rewarded playing all the remaining games (more than ever now since partey and elneny goes to afcon).

  18. We were the better team for an hour … still learning but have to move on and begin to churn out these performances each weak … another striker needed for sure in the window …. Gabriel will miss cup games but arteta needs to understand how to create a midfield without xhaka or suffer the consequences of another frustrating season

    1. Yea. Think most of us have already said our piece about Xhaka and predicted something like this would happen as it usually does when he plays. I don’t see how we can move forward as a team with him starting and should be a position that we finally decide to change in the summer. Over the years we have just seen it so many times. And i don’t even blame him today. His reputation just attracts the refs to cheat and hurt Arsenal whenever they can. Every time he dives it or challenges there’s a chance for the ref or VAR to take an action .

    2. Arteta’s love affair with Xhaka unfortunately continues
      to cost the team vital points with his predictable
      moments of madness.

      If Renato Sanchez and Bruno Guimaraes are TRULY
      available in this window both Edu and MA should
      move heaven and Xhaka to try and land either or
      both.

      Champions League football is well within Arsenals
      grasp this season, it’s time for the club to act like it

  19. Wow wow wow!

    What a performance! To think that we didn’t lose the game, on the pitch.

    We really are on the up ⬆️ 🔝

  20. On this match today, I am proud of the team. The referee is an incompetent fraud and Var is but a joke taken too far. Imagine anyone denying Odegaard a penalty that was obviously clear.

  21. Kudos to the boys played beyond my best imagination, great overall team effort all around (almost anyways🤦). But my gripe is why does Granit Xhaka has to almost always be a catalyst for a whole lot of bad that happens when he plays, I’ll concede that every I’ll thing wasn’t all on him today (he actually played really well today, although that penalty and the timing of it all negates almost all good he did) I personally feel like if Arsenal are to become the powerhouses they seem to be on the trajectory to be, he has to leave, always a mistake in him and he can be really gut wrenching just like it was today. But effort from the guys today, showed so much heart today proud of them boys (most of them anyways) sigh…..

  22. Proud to be an AFC supporter today, the boys
    left it all out on the pitch and fought hard for
    the badge. The performance, not so much the
    result should be the take away from this game.

    For nearly 70 minutes Arsenal we’re clearly the
    best side but unfortunately disastrous referee and
    player decisions cost Arteta’s men a vital 3 points.

    WTS such a performance by the lads solidifies my
    belief that Arsenal is slowly closing the gap with
    the top 3 and that Champions League football
    is clearly within our grasp this season. With the
    window already open it is imperative that KSE
    backs Edu and MA even if it requires a substantial
    outlaying of resources. Adding a Zakaria, Bruno G,
    Jonathan David, A Isaak could make the difference
    in the second half of the season.

    Once again Stan the proverbial ball is in your court.

  23. Xhaka is the problem. Xhaka cause the team to lose again. he gave away a soft penalty. you just cant do that in the box with VAR watching everything. With Xhaka not giving away that stupid penalty, then Gabriel wouldn’t have done his rubbish of stamping on the penalty spot and get his 2 yellows. We wouldn’t be 10 down and we would surely have earned atleast a point if it weren’t for Xhaka. Xhaka is ok against the smaller teams but against the top teams he is a total liability. we have seen it time and time again where he have cost us so many points. I would sell him for a penny. We need another proper midfielder to replace Xhaka.

    1. Rant over? Xhaka was foolish and I agree it is time for both him and Arsenal to move on. But to blame him for Gabriel losing his head is a bit over the top. Xhaka was a victim of incompetent reffing (never a clear and obvious error) and Gabriel has to own his two mistakes and learn from them.

    2. Xhaka was culpable and should of been moved on
      to Roma in the summer but his moment of madness
      didn’t reduce Arsenal to 10 men.

      Take a bow Gabriel, this one is sadly on your shoulders.

    3. Blaming all of that on Xhaka is so stupid.
      He bossed the Midfield alongside Partey in the first half and it was never a penalty even though Xhaka made it easy for the ref.
      He caused us the penalty but definitely not the reason we lost, and going after him like that is poor.
      The gas on the pitch disagree anyway going by their cheering of him when he was involved in the pressing afterwards.
      Let’s Learn to be balanced

      1. Xhaka is treated differently and every little mistake is scrutinised by the officials, just like the captain of England is treated differently and gets away with murder time and time again.

        1. That’s partially why I think Xhaka and Arsenal should move on. Arsenal need someone more athletic and Xhaka need to move to a league where the refs don’t draw a target on his chest.

      2. Bossed the midfield … please … partyey was outstanding today and if had had a decent midfielder alongside then maybe .. but they controlled possession and as per usual xhaka was not available as an option from the back which is why saka and martineli drr we pended on Norwegian and laca for support

        1. Xhaka was awful today, look at his stats for fouls, duels and tackles. PARTEY was outstanding. We played superb today but to blame the ref is an absolute joke. We lost because of two idiots when we were in control doing what they should not have been doing. And GAI Gabriel didnt get a straight red he got Two yellows.

  24. Regardless of the result and individual moments of recklessness by G & G, everyone one played well including Xhaka. He was okay.
    Hats off for the boys. I’m proud.

    Not som much for the officating. It was atrocious.

    At this point I have resolved these refs are hell bent on paving a way for Man U to sneak into the top four. Seriously 😑😑

    P.S.

    1. Xhaka gave away a poor penalty and in general play his performance was at best average. Evidently, he was up against one of the best midfields in the world but I think it is stretching things to suggest he played well.

  25. Partey had his best game today…….Recently he has improved but today He was very good. He goes to Afcon soon. I wish him well..

  26. Ref was rubbish but that’s consistent. Almost every game week about 5 of the 10 games have some kind of controversy.

    In that way there’s nothing unique about us getting tough calls when a lot of teams have suffered equally or worse.

    No excuses, we lost a game we should’ve won. That’s been our issue for over a decade. Nothing changing on that front.

  27. There should be very few Arsenal fans that would be unhappy with that performance, even though the result wasn’t to our liking. I thought city were niggly all the way through the game and Jesus was as usual particularly deviant. He’s always pushing, shoving and moaning when it’s done to him. He was at it all game with our man Gabby. Again, despite the result I’m happy with the way we went about our business today and over the course of this season. Poor decision making on behalf a couple of our players but moreso, on behalf of the so called officials

  28. Hey big up Laca. That guy is master at closing yr ass down and nicking the ball which in turn leads to counters. Brilliant example on leading the line.

  29. We had em…We outplayed em.
    I’m good with the game we played. Not with the loss though. Oh well, inwards and upwards…

  30. Robbed!! Really happy with how we played though…

    Massive shout out to the ball boy – you were brilliant

  31. I can see why there was no English referee at the last world cup. They are simply too disgusting to be taken seriously at the international level. Similarly such trash has greatly contributed to England’s failure to win anyn international trophies for close to sixty years now. Our game today was simply embarrassing and annoying!
    On a positive note our boys showed what they are capable of. It was a joy to watch them play with great determination even though we lost in controversial circumstances. I feel our team has a great future ahead. We only need to strengthen just a few positions and we shall be competing for the top.

  32. excuses excuses would have won the game easily if not 4 xhaka if hes did nothing dive yellow card 4 silva holdings header 4 the winner was worse,gabbi never learns big improvement though

  33. Arsenal are their own worse enemy through lack of discipline. We didn’t deserve to lose this game. We had the game under control. Am disappointed.

  34. 1. Didn’t expect we would compete toe for toe and outplay them.
    2. In life we do not always take our chances, in football we feel it more when we don’t. We have a few we should of converted; I hope the sting of this result galvanises this group. I feel more than ever this is the year really cab will make top 4 even with spurs and united with games in hand.
    3. Proud of how far we have come as a club, still alot to do, players in and players out but keep on the momentum.
    4. After 96 mind our fans continued to cheer our boys, this is how much this performance indicates what we are doing. We were robbed today, but we still keep going together
    5. It’s not VAR that is a joke, it’s the standard of Refs we have in our league. In the end the decisions become favourable to the top teams, we didn’t ask for this but it was the same under wengers glory years. This all needs to be better now we have VAR

  35. Arsenal played well overall. However, there are still issues with certain players and a lack of maturity and discipline were in the end decisive. There is a lot of focus on some refereeing decisions but Arsenal really gave that game away.
    Xhaka has once more shown his lack of reliability in certain situations. All too often, even when he puts in a good performance he is prone to making errors and picking up unnecessary cards. His petulance after the penalty decision went against him was also poor. Unfortunately, the type of errors that led to the penalty have always been in his game and it seems that he is unable to cut them out. Eventually, if Arsenal want to make the required progress he will need to be replaced. His slow reactions, lack of athleticism and lack of pace amongst other weaknesses mean he will almost always get found out at some point if he gets isolated against top quality opposition.
    Today, equally as bad were Gabriel’s antics. He has been very good up till now but getting himself sent off was terrible. Trying to scuff the penalty spot was unacceptably bad form, immediately putting him under pressure. The Arsenal players need to cut out these types of attempts at gamesmanship. If they focus on the football instead the team will be all the better for it in the end.
    The team also really needs to improve its overall discipline. There are a number of players who seem unable to keep their heads when facing adversity. This is an area where the senior players should be setting the tone and ensuring the team maintains focus.
    I hope the team learn from this as there is great potential in this team and with some strengthening of the squad Arsenal could become a true force once more.

  36. Why do the var official always go against Arsenal at critical moments of the games, especially when Arsenal are playing against top six teams. Against Manchester United, Arsenal was leading the game 1-0,with five minutes before half time and Tomiyasu was held and brought down by McGuire in the penalty box, no foul given for what was a clear penalty. Manchester United clears out and scores on the fast break, when the game should have been stopped and Arsenal awarded a rightly deserved penalty, with the chance to go 2-0 up before half time and running down the clock. Instead, scores are tied. Then, Manchester United go on to win the game. Today, more of the same,as,in the 8th minute of play Manchester city goalkeeper clearly fouled Odegaard before getting the ball, yet, var official Jarred Gilbert refuses to call on the match referee Stuart Attwell to take a closer look on the monitor. While the premier league is the most competitive across Europe, the officiating leaves a lot to be desired. It’s the worst and if not corrupt. Fifa should some how carry out investigations into the premier league’s officiating. Arsenal once again have been hard done with bias and unfair refereeing decisions, but, by poor players actions too has not helped their cause either. Arsenal must upgrade on the quality of it’s depth, as they must get rid of Holding, Kolasinac, Chambers and Mari asap. Also, must buy a quality defensive midfielder like Boubacar Kamara or Frenkie de Jong and a top quality striker like Patrik Schick or Alexander Isak in this window to keep the chance of qualifying for a top four finish. Remember a chain is only strong as it’s weakest link. Arsenal starting line-up is good, but, needs to strengthen the team depth with more quality than numbers.This young team must continue to believe and they achieve top four finish for sure.

  37. Xhaka was silly but from the first half onwards the corrupt ref played all fouls against us on and gave all our fouls against Man City as free kicks. I saw what was happening then. Many referees are corrupt. Remember the Serie A scandal. Sooner or later the scared EPL will own up to the truth. Corruption amongst EPL referees.

  38. I agree Partey probably had his best game in an Arsenal shirt so far, shame (for us) he is now off to AFCON and will miss the Spurs 6 pointer

    But my shout out definitely goes to Tomi, missed a game and a week’s training because of a positive COVID test and plays like that for 90 plus minutes, what a find he was

    We played well as a team, probably the better side over the whole game but just didn’t have that little bit of fortune that you need, particularly against League leaders

  39. We lost the game unfairly let’s move on , to me the most important take from the game is that arsenal have got back the fear factor after that performance we are not a easy team to play against anymore , this result will hurt for a few days 😢 but there is so much positive to take from it and plenty more points to play for.
    City can’t get much better and Liverpool have one of the oldest team
    I believe 🙏 next season we will be right in the mix

  40. Swap xhaka with rice and a new centre forward, and we win this game by some goals, we really could challenge for the league on current progression/form by next season 🤔 and I’m being really serious with that view, but FFS😭😭😭😭😭

  41. In Italy Juventus cheated and were corrupt. The whole of Serie A had to change. Italian Serie A football was totally corrupt and Juventus paid the price. Look it up on Google. Do you believe that multi-billions of £££££s EPL is different? Wake up and don’t pretend you did not see what was happening.

  42. I maintain we were cheated by the really incompetant ref and VAR today. I do not say either were deliberately cheatingvus but one sided incompetance has the effect of us acutaly being cheated. I hope other Gooners understand thuis distinction in language.
    On the wider and far more important picture, we were magnificent to a man today and I thought we really deserved the win we would undoubtedly have had with competant officials and VAR.
    Despite this , I still blame Xhaka for giving VAR a chance, which they took greedily, to call over the ref for a second look. When you tug a shirt in the pen area even though theopponent is actually diving at that moment, you let your team down.
    I also blame Gabriel but had Xhaka not acted first, neither of GABRIELS BRAIN FARTS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.

    If we can maintain THIS form, 4th place or even higher should be easily done. By far our best overall perf since way back in Wengers time, imo.

    1. Jon
      You maintain that match officials are not corrupt so these glaring errors that have affected the game completely today, and do so in other matches, are as you put it, purely down to incompetence.

      Xhaka was silly and he gave VAR something to challenge. Odegaard was fouled but the VAR operator didn’t think it was an obvious error so no penalty. Some may think what you describe as incompetence is actually more serious than that.

      It really, really angered me that Holding was booked for an innocuous foul as De Bruyne crashed theatrically to the floor. These decisions wreck any reputation our referees hope to garner with the fans and are not in the spirit of the game. The standards today were below acceptable

      1. It was less than 2 weeks ago when Xhaka DELIBERATELY stomped studs first on Raphinha.. didn’t even get a yellow.

        That was a needless challenge and couldve changed the game. That time it went on our way.

        Common nominator: Xhaka the culprit once again.

      2. Sue P No, I am not willing, without unchallengable evidence, to accuse refs of being DELIBERATE cheats. As I said, they did cheat us. BUT through incompetance, not corruption.

        VAR, as I have long been saying, is an abomination and should never be in the game at all. It has made the whole experience of following football FAR worse than before it came in.

        I accept that I as a seeker of the whole truth, I am in a small minority of fans in general, in not calling refs DELIBERATE cheats. But that’s how I SEE THINGS AND, UNLIKE MANY FANS, I can easily put my personal fan bias aside, as I PRIZE TRUTH, FAR MORE THAN BIAS TOWARDS MY TEAM.

        If it helps your mood, I am every bit as annoyed with officialdom as you clearly and rightly are.

        1. I’m half with you. I don’t think the refs are corrupt. Just pathetically in competent. But I like VAR and feel that most of the controversial VAR decisions are a direct result of the aforementioned pathetic incompetents. CLEAR AND OBVIOUS mistake. That’s all they need to answer. If Atwell had given the penalty then I’d have no complaints but in a month of Sundays nobody is going to convince me that his original decision was a clear and obvious mistake.

          Still fuming but damn proud of the whole team.

        2. I agree totally. Dont believe they are CORRUPT just totally INCOMPETENT. In most jobs workers who are incompetent are fired unless employed by PGMOL.

      3. SueP, Mike Reilly and his minions have two choices: they are either incompetent or corrupt. Their choice.
        Why does VAR review one penalty claim and not the other? Why does Mike Reilly not agree to implementation of VAR in a manner consistent with the rest of Europe?

  43. If we have another seasoned midfielder to partner with Partey, we can challenge for the title everything being equal. But referees are a big problem against Arsenal. We need a striker as well.
    Gabriel lost his head. Just unnecessariuly nervous

  44. I feel very bitter. It’s not fair at all. I suspect these FA referees also contribute to match fixing. It was so obvious that the officiating wasn’t fair at all. Our players tried very well.

  45. I believe it is clear for Arteta and Edu to see that we are just 2 positions short of being a top-level team.

    CM and ST.

    I will be glad if we get Vlahovic and Guimaraes this January.
    Replacing Lacazette and Xhaka respectively.

    Lacazette had a fair game today, especially with his hold-up play.

  46. I think Josh Kroenke should start bank-rolling the head of the premier league referees so they could get off our back, else it will take a miracle for us to win the league again.
    I can’t understand why the referees hate us so much.
    Maybe we can buy their love. Money rules the world. It’s a pity, though.

  47. I’ve got to commend the team, except the thug Xhaka, for today’s performance. Like Emery’s Arsenal vs Brighton, the thug gave away a penalty. Then it cost us 4th place, today it may cost us Europe again. Well done thug.

    1. Sean I am now a massive fan of MA. I see very clear direction in what he is doing to improve our team and todays perf shows that so well.

      BUT, BUT, BUT, I will never , repeat never, agree with having the appalling and out of control Xhaka in our team or in the club at all.
      How this statuesque, immobile, slowcoach has stayed at AFC so long is a baffling and misery making mystery to me.

      And I say MA is as wrong as can be, on him!

      1. jon, surely Arteta. must wake up to Granit Xhaka by now, otherwise he will be brought down by him.

  48. I dof my hat for this Arsenal Team today. What a performance! Hope they can maintain this momentum and cut away these costly errors, especially Xhaka!

  49. Bad decisions against us are nothing new just ask Mr Wenger ,the only decision I thought could have gone either way was Odegaards penalty appeal apart from that Xhakas stupid challenge and Gabriel’s red card were correct .
    The problem lies with VAR and the inconstancy of their decisions not the referees who only have a a split second to make their minds up .
    Take nothing away from the team as I thought until Xhakas weekly Fck up we were good value for money and I take my hat off to Arteta and the team for that.

    1. “The only decision I thought could have gone either way was Odegaards penalty appeal “

      Dan you are kidding, did you see the pundits on TV showing the replay, clearly the defenders foot hitting Odegarrd foot then ball.
      Which at the time of the replays in the match did not show that angle. That was a pen all day long…..I agree with the rest though…

      1. But because the penalty hasn’t been given they hardly get given as it’s not a clear and obvious mistake (which is a massive grey area because of Man City’s penalty)
        Like I said 50/50 on that one as the ball went in the direction that Emerson made the tackle .
        I’m not saying it was or it wasn’t ,obviously I’m not payed to make them decisions but at least we agree on rest 😂
        But I will repeat the disadvantages that Xhaka brings to the team because before that we were in complete control .

      1. Inconsistency with ref decisions today was so appalling, Watford had a clear penalty with the lloris foul…also the ref stop a clear advantage when the striker was about to shoot clear on goal…..well I believe we would be in Europe come end of the season,we have a solid 11 that can pull it off

  50. Incompetent refereeing not corrupt refereeing. We outplayed them when we had the same number of players but big Gab let us down and the pen wasn’t a pen in my eyes but ours was questionable as well. We move on and at least we cannot complain about lack of effort or passion. Proud today even though we lost.

    1. Declan, I need to ask you this question my friend.

      How on earth can a “professional referee” be described as incompetent?

      He is, supposedly, one of the elite referees, so if he is incompetent, why is he rewarded week after week with a game in the PL?

      Are we to believe then, that the referees association is incompetent and if they are, why are they getting away with it week in and week out?

      I am absolutely certain that the referee made different decisions for The Arsenal versus City today and that is corrupt AND incompetent.

      We were better in every area of the pitch today, even after the sending off.

      The crowd were absolutely brilliant and, on the way home, was chatting to some city fans who remarked about the atmosphere and how our fans never stopped supporting the team.

      They also said that this was the hardest team they had come up against this season and agreed we were very unlucky.

      Now onto the Xhaka bashing, which was as predictable as the sun rising.
      One minute your praising the way we played and then singling out one player for all the abuse.
      How could we have played so well, if Xhaka is so bad?
      Tell me, in any game, what player does not pull shirts these days?
      Even this most incompetent referee didn’t give a penalty until var got involved and it now seems that any other of our players who commit anymisdeaminours, are all the fault of Xhaka.

      Just think how silly this sounds Gabriel gets sent off and it’s Xhaka’s fault – so the four bookings were all down to Xhaka? Get a grip for heaven’s sake!!!
      Of course I’m not saying that Xhaka hasn’t got his faults and we could improve on him… if kronkie wants to spend in excess of £30,000,000, but to be able to dominate city as we did up and until that “penalty” there has to be eleven committed and professional players.

      Lacazette was absolutely superb today and he worked his socks off…. but to try and identify any one player is wrong, as they were a complete team.

      We were robbed by an official who isn’t good enough, by a team who decided that diving was the only way to break us down and to see Arsenal players sink to their knees at the final whistle, was heartbreaking.
      We are very close to having the kind of atmosphere that was produced at Highbury.

      Now all that MA needs to do, is get this consistency in every match, the crowd will respond and allows we will need is a competent official.

      1. Hi Ken

        The issues with Xhaka, are the fouls he commits are avoidable, he has a bit of a temper which often he can’t control, now we could forgive them if he was a Viera or Roy kean but he isn’t that great. So I way up the pros and cons, and to me the cons win. The funny thing is that I think he would be fantastic if he played in Italy.

        Was today proof that you needed that tactically and style of football is progressing? I think the spurs game might be better to judge, I would take a draw but realistically hoped to win at theirs…

        1. GoalDan, I was impressed with the way we were playing after the spud game and said that all we need is consistency – sincerely that game, we have not performed like that until the city game.
          That is what I need to see from MA and the teams he puts out…. we are nearly there!!!

          Xaka is the only one who makes needless fouls now?
          Read the comments above and it seems the only reason we lost (apart from the referee) was Xhaka.

          Nothing to do with Martinelli missing a sitter, Gabriel being sent off for two yellow cards, Odegaard for not controlling the ball before he was fouled… I could go on and the latest piece of drivel is that he’s at fault for Gabriel being sent off.

          As I said, to outplay City for the whole game, you need eleven committed players and there cannot be any passengers, no matter how many want Xhaka out of the club.
          I’ll ask you the same question, is there any player who doesn’t grab another players shirt today?

          Unluckily for Xhaka, he was caught out by a diving opponent.

      2. Ken, Before a player is under pressure to commit a foul its in some cases due to another player who was first incompetent. Always watch the origin of the danger before a pen, a cross, etc.
        Yes its all interlinked.

  51. When we put in a performance like today the loss is easier to take. We pressed and were committed from start to finish. I just hope they keep it up.

  52. Despite the loss of 3 points, this match could prove to be a watershed for the team, in that the inferiority complex which has been a feature of games against Man
    City for some time, has been lifted.Indeed, had we kept 11 players on the pitch, I am confident we would have won.Next time we meet City, Arteta will not have to motivate the players who will be out for justice .I shall refrain from commenting on the ref and VAR officials otherwise I might use certain profanities which would not be in keeping for someone of my age, and I shall gloss over the matter of a certain midfielder who has yet again shown himself to be a liability.No, I want to dwell on the utter stupidity and sheer unprofessional attitude displayed by Gabriel first of all for scuffing the penalty spot after the award.To stoop to such action beggars belief and of course left the ref with absolutely no alternative but to book him.His second booking was equally unfathomable the foul taking place on the half way line with plenty of cover around.Xhaka messed up, but Gabriel was the guy who cost us the game.He needs to wise up and be taken to task by Arteta on face to face basis to ensure it never happens again.When he serves his suspension I hope Holding plays sufficiently well to make it tough for Gabriel to regain his place, that’s how strongly I feel about his aberrations which probably cost us 3 points against the best team in the land.

    1. A bit harsh on Gabriel don’t you think? First real act of stupidity that cost his team, he’s probably more upset about it than anyone else. Disciplinary action too much, especially if Xhaka never got suspended for his many costly mistakes.

      Sorry to disagree, but no way I want Holding in for Gabriel from a manager’s disciplinary actions. Holding levels below Gabriel in terms of defending.

      If anything, argument to be made that Gabriel not ready to be a captain yet.

      1. A bit harsh on Holding who never put a foot wrong today.In fact he has been good in every match he has played this season.We will have to agree to differ on the merits of these players Durand , but this is not the first time that Gabriel has been booked for fouling near the half way line and it seems he is not learning from the errors of his ways, hence my frustrations with him.

        1. I agree with a lot of your initial post Grandad, however I don’t subscribe to the thought that any individual costs any teams any games on their own, you win together and you lose together, team game

          Gabriel’s first booking was the stupidest way to get booked in a Premier League game if indeed it was for penalty spot scuffing, but I thought he was a bit unfortunate to get that second yellow, not every foul is a booking, that piece of action probably wouldn’t have happened anyway if Martinelli had put away the open goal opportunity just before and again I thought Xhaka a bit hard done by if the pen against was (eventually) given for a shirt pull because the pulling of shirts happens at every corner in every match in the penalty area, both by defenders and attackers and if Marty scores the open goal the pen wouldn’t have mattered so much as we would have been 2-1 up and probably with 11 men on the pitch but it certainly would be equally harsh to put it all on Marty as well, he had a good game, as did Xhaka and Gabriel and I’m sure other Arsenal players made mistakes that were inconsequential

          We will have days when all those things will fall in our direction, maybe in the next League game against that lot down the road who it sounded like they had their share of good fortune today with similarities with our game

          As it was two yellows I think Gabriel only misses one match doesn’t he?, if so that would be a Cup game and he might have been rested for that anyway with Ron Holding (who I also rate) stepping in for him, probably meaning that Rob will now play three games on the trot before our next League game and might stay in on merit rather than a Gabriel “punishment” anyway but then again COVID might have something to say about that anyway

          1. Exactly my point earlier, There are always other errors or incompetence from other players before
            the costly error and or goal.

      2. Durand YES and unusually I am not in agreement with Grandad on this matter I accept that Gabriel acted foishly and letus down of cour ehe did andit cost us thgame .

        BUT it is rare for him, while XHAKA, THAT DREADFUL AND RELIABLY(MEANING CONSTANTLY ) OUT OF CONTROL STATUE, HAS MADE A CAREER OF BEING AN IDIOT.

        HOLDING IS NOT A PATCH ON GABRIEL AND WE ALL, INCLUDING GRANDAD, KNOW THAT!

      3. I’m pretty sure Gabriel had a “real act of stupidity” last year that cost us points. But he’s young and can learn. Certainly not ready for captaincy though.

    2. I think the progression in terms of tactics and quality of players was evident today, just a bit more of a clear out (player wise) and two additional players we can challenge. I feel really confident we can beat spurs at their ground despite there form, and to me would be the yard stick to judge where we are. ( presuming no players sent off, no dodgy decision and all players on both teams are present).

    3. We have three hotheads in our team.
      Laca, who is mature, knows how to control and use his temper so he never oversteps.
      Gabriel when he first came lost control regularly, but this is the first time this season, and he’s still young, so he will learn.
      Xhaka, another experienced player, is the third, but he can’t control it. Additionally he too often commits lazy or bad fouls in dangerous areas. He gets the red mist and he doesn’t care about his team, he just wants to stop the man at any price, or if after the event to get revenge, and its only through teammates dragging him away that he too wasn’t sent off today. That was very very close to happening and if Attwell had not already done all he needed to do to lose us the game he would have sent off Xhaka. Xhaka has also become a marked man and an easy target in the EPL for teams to wind up and referees to send off.
      Teams need passion and fighters. But they must be capable of harnessing the anger. But as has been said, Xhaka, whilst a reasonable player, is not so good that we have to take such risks on a player who will always be a time bomb. Seeing a bunch of 20 year olds having to tell their experienced ex-captain to calm down is not the way it should be.

      1. Agreed, it’s not like Xhaka has not had lots of chances already, I don’t think we are ganging up on him. I think if I cost my firm lots of money every few months, I would walk away in shame because of my own incompetences…..

  53. Along with the refs help we threw that away today thanks to xhaka being a liability in the box abd gab being a hot head.
    City looked like a side that had played 3 games in a week they were dead on their feet and still we end up beating ourselves with poor decisions on the pitch.

    1. Exactly. Why are people praising the team? They gave up a penalty and a red-card. They were up 1-0. Hmmm….seems, like a few other blown leads (Man U, Everton). How was this any better? Ruined the holiday weekend. And I know none of them will give an eff. But they need to realize this affects real people. WTF??

  54. We were far the better team and City were SECOND best. From the first half I could see the referee was favouring City. Xhaka is a TOTAL liability. A mindless moronic footballer. Praise to the team for showing that we are clearly moving in an upwards direction. Is football corrupt…….yes it is? Billions of ££££££ involved. Corruption is anywhere there are $$$$$ and £££££ at EPL levels. Remember many years ago Mike Dean was suspended. In the modern era it’s all on the internet for all to see, remember Serie A was so corrupt Juventus were demoted. It can’t happen here…..I hear you say…..ha, ha, ha ha…ha.

        1. @Tex was responding to Sue about Declan Rice, would elevate the hole team, not just the midfield by replacing Xhaka….

        2. GoalDan,
          Yes even without Declan we have improved.

          TexMex, Have you ever won against a disadvataged person, how did your victory feel.
          Scoring a penalty and winning against 10 men does not give a lot of bragging to City, does it?

          By the way can some one research and post log leaders in wins due to penalties and playing less men. some teams look for pens and part of their game plan and that s how they win.

          I wish like Rugby a team can replace a red carded player after say 5-10 minutes especially for non violent red cards.

  55. Xhaka was the catalyst of this defeat and then the stupity of Gabriel following it. But if your younger players are taking the lead off a player given the captains armband then we are always going to kick ourselves in the foot. Great performance spoilt and wasted.

    1. The catalyst of our defeat was the referee and VAR – until these two got together and conjured up the penalty, City were second best, with Xhaka and Partey working their socks off in midfield.

      Is Gabriel that much of a idiot that he can’t control himself, but relies on Xhaka?

      Think about what is being said on here – it’s absolute tosh, aimed at the current scapegoat.

      There is no way we would have been so dominant up to that penalty, if we were carrying a passenger.

      Every single player gave their all, except Gabriel who WAS stupid enough to be sent off – but, as always, one player has to take the kickings of the fans.

  56. Fantastic performance today. Arsenal did really play very eyecatching football . Actually I dare to say Arsenal played in the first leg some of the very best football seen from any team in this season. Good pressing football and very good combinations. Then you know the rest. Stupid penalty, why tug a shirt in the penalty area and give the ref. a chance to give a penalty. Silva was clearly searching the contact on Xhakas legs and clearly dived but Xhaka did clearly tug his Silavs shirt as well. Therefore the penalty was correct.
    Gabriel lost his head and with already having a yellow card his action was to agressive. He should absolutely keep away from any contact with his opponent in this situation. He could have avoided this, but he lost his head. With 10 men it was almost an mission impossibe with almost 40 min. + injury time to go.
    I think we paid a high price for having a team not using their heads wisely in the second leg.
    But overall the performance was very satisfying. Arsenal played on such a high level, that we do have a fair chance to get that 4.th place in the table.
    City did’nt deserve the win. But Arsenal gave it away. Arsenal were also a bit unlucky. Martinelli should definitely have scored on his 100% chance. But with Arsenal sublime play today it looks promissing for the future. But I think we need a midfielder and a centerforward in this transfer window.

  57. Tough one. Ardenal had the chances and both penalties could have gone either way. Too bad Xhaka felt.the need to pull a shirt (though VAR would have never even gotten involved if Silva hadn’t dove for the ground). Too bad Gabriel’s first yellow for arguing with the ref came back to bite him with a second yellow.

    We had a good shot to win if not at least tie. It’s tough to lose it that late, but it is what it is.

    They played great and we’re on a nice path if that’s how the performances will (mostly) be from now on.

  58. Well, Referees and VAR. What can you say.

    I would not mind their being so bad, just as long as they were consistently bad.

    But it is their inconsistency that is so galling.

    I think the worst thing of all though, they do not have to explain and justify their decisions after the match.

    I hate to say it, but the refereeing decisions today might well cost Arsenal a spot in next seasons UCL and a place in the League cup final.

    We play Liverpool next without Partey (who I thought was excellent today), Elneny and now Gabriel.

    West Ham won, Spurs won and I suspect Man Utd will win on Monday. West Ham are now just one point behind, while the other two can both go above us if they win their outstanding games.

    We could find ourselves in seventh soon, outside the Europa League spots too.

      1. Reggie, get someone to pull your shirt backwards and see if you fall forward- the only time that could happen, is if you dive forwards.

        Now if your arguing he shouldn’t have pulled the shirt and every time that happens, a penalty should be awarded, then we would have a penalty every time a corner is taken.

        1. Ken that is the stupidity of it, Silva was already starting to go down in the clumsy tussle, which on its own would not have resulted in the penalty. The second the shirt was pulled makes the review different, they can then see the shirt pulling/pushing, so then it can be interpreted as an error. Plus shirt pulling goes on all the time but anyone who pulls a shirt in the box, isn’t always going to give a penalty away but it always runs the risk of doing so.

          1. But you don’t answer the fact that every time there is a corner, there should be a free kick.
            It wasn’t a penalty, because the shirt pulling didn’t instigate the diving and the “referee”, after ignoring all the other shirt pulls in the game, reversed his decision.

            Ode was a penalty and I suggest you watch the replays.

            Both incidents happened right below where I sit and there was not one person who thought that either decision was correct…. how do I know?
            The crowd reaction, simple as that.

  59. Arsenal still don’t have the mental ability to beat the top team’s. Arsenal imploded after Man City were awarded the peno. This is nothing new we have seen it all before.

    1. Rubbish we did not implode.
      If that was the case,, why did it take them to the 93rd minute to score?
      In actual fact, we nearly took the lead, only for it to be cleared off the line.

      We actually “imploded” whenever we lost 5-0 earlier in the season.

      1. Implode, is the wrong term, ill discpline is the right term. We were in some form of control and handed city the initiative ourselves.

        1. Ill discipline is also wrong – what went on out on the field, was a “referee” who applied different rules for each team and I’m surprised you aren’t seeing that.

          The number of times fouls went unpunished on Martinelli and Saka was unbelievable… not one city player was booked from a resulting free kick and we had bookings for fouls that were minute, compared to those said fouls.
          Martin Keown and the crowd summed this pathetic excuse for a referee perfectly.

  60. Fans should stop criticising Xhaka for every little issue. One or the other player in every team commits such foul but ref ignore them while Arsenal get punished in crucial moments. If not Xhaka ref will target someone else from Arsenal. Fans should unite to put pressure to make ref system fair and transparent. Blaming Xhaka would be playing in the hands of those anti Arsenal media and biased referees

  61. Can’t help thinking that this is one that got away. I hope it’s part of a learn curve for both players and coaching staff. Mostly it’s about momentum and luck, 50/50 decisions usually go with the higher placed teams. But, also it’s about the players mentality. Xhaka obviously has never had a winning mentality. Gabriel lost his head, and Arsenal clearly need better substitution options than Elneny.

  62. Even Pep said we were the better side but when the dust settles there will only be one conclusion. We shot ourselves in the foot twice, if Xhaka didn’t pull Silva’s shirt VAR would not have asked the ref to review it and soon after Gabriel’s two stupid yellow cards. Even at 1-1, imo we would have won the match if we had 11 players on the pitch. We definitely missed a trick here which was made even worse with the Spuds winning in stoppage time.

    I don’t buy this ‘corrupt’ referee line we need to wise up on how to finish games off. As far as diving is concerned, everybody dives, it’s a feature of the game I loathe, it’s just that some are better at it than others. Can anybody seriously claim we don’t have divers in our side?

    We need to move on from here and consistently play as we did against Man City and the rewards will follow.

    1. Good points.
      Far too many fans are focusing on the referees. Unfortunately one can also see much of this attitude amongst the players. This perceived sense of injustice is very evident in the way the players surround referees and get cards for dissent etc. We also see the unedifying spectacle of a senior player like Xhaka having to be dragged away to avoid further sanction. Unfortunately, we have seen this before and it is difficult to see him change.
      Xhaka’s performance was obviously not the only reason Arsenal lost the match but the evident limitations in his technical abilities and poor decision-making at an important point in the match were crucial in Arsenal losing the initiative.
      Gabriel getting two cards shortly after is a reflection of inadequate self-control and deficiencies in discipline and leadership in the team.

  63. I’m so proud of this team!

    I hope they keep the same mentality of winning and I can guarantee all the fans that we are getting something.

    Xhaka made a mistake and I blame him for the unnecessary penalty but I hope this will give him some time to think why we “fans” are expecting more from him and he is not learning!

    Gabi’s second card was too fast from the ref!

    1. If someone has ever kicked the ball you can’t blame Xhaka in that situation but appreciate Silva. Anyone in that situation would try to recover like Xhaka did because Silva was going past him and Silva had the advantage. So instead of blaming Xhaka you should also appreciate Silva’s brilliance. Don’t forget he is the most inform player in the city team.

  64. Odegaard was denied a definite penalty. It was not even referred to the referee. EVEN the Daily Mail had it as a feature article. Yet Xhaka’s one that could have gone either way, and yes Xhaka is STUPID, but how about talking the TRUTH. What about the clear nonsense of Xhaka’s 75% penalty to Odegaards 100% penalty. Nothing to say about that? That doesn’t bother you? Just an error? What game did some of you watch?

  65. I was not annoyed with this loss as from what I saw, Arsenal is back. We are just 2-3 players and we need not be afraid on any team in top 6.
    City won because of the pen and the red card.

    They did not score good goals against 11 gunners.
    That is the unfair side of soccer and teams that have many added points because of such have tended to win games and championships. Man U in previous years, Barca, City etc gain a lot from red cards and penalties.

    Admin let some one run a researched article on points won when playing against red carded teams and or penalties, lets see who leads the log

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