Why Arsenal goal should NOT have stood and Man City stars were absolutely right to be furious with referee
HERE SunSport’s whistleblower Mark Halsey picks out the key incidents from Sunday’s fiery Prem clash at the Etihad.
From Manchester City star Kyle Walker’s fury at Arsenal’s equaliser to that disputed dismissal of Gunners ace Leandro Trossard, our former man in black gives his assessment on the 2-2 epic.
HAVERTZ & RODRI
The tone was set after just eight seconds when Kai Havertz ran into Rodri and the City midfielder fell to the ground holding his face.
But Havertz did nothing wrong as he is absolutely entitled to run into space.
In fact, you could argue that Rodri was the one fortunate to escape without a booking.
He was trying to get Havertz sent off — and you never want to see that.
WALKER REACTION TO ARSENAL EQUALISER
Kyle Walker had every right to feel aggrieved over Riccardo Calafiori’s 22nd-minute goal.
Ref Michael Oliver called the City captain over for a chat after the Gunners had been awarded a free-kick, which is fine.
But the issue is he allowed Thomas Partey to take the set-piece quickly and, with Walker out of position, Arsenal ended up scoring.
Walker was rightly furious. When a referee calls a player over, he must allow him to get back into position.
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Oliver should have restarted the game once Walker had returned to his right-back spot.
The goal came because Walker was out of position and Gabriel Martinelli exploited the space before teeing up Calafiori.
TROSSARD SEEING RED
Leandro Trossard was deservedly sent off as he kicked the ball 50 yards away after conceding a free-kick and therefore delayed the restart.
The Belgian has clearly learnt nothing from team-mate Declan Rice being sent off for the same thing against Brighton last month.
Neither Trossard or Gunners boss Mikel Arteta can have any complaints.
But all we want is consistency and City’s Jeremy Doku did exactly the same thing earlier in the game and went unpunished.
He also kicked the ball away and was not booked.
ARSENAL PHYSIO
Protocols mean a physio or doctor can only enter the field of play to give a player treatment when given the green light by the referee.
Arsenal’s physio ran onto the pitch to treat Jurrien Timber and would have been cautioned had Oliver not given him permission.
So he did nothing wrong there.
Given the intensity of the game and with what is at stake, on the whole I thought Michael Oliver performed well.
Arsenal ratings vs Man City
TEN-MAN Arsenal came desperately close to beating Man City.
Unfortunately for Mikel Arteta’s men, John Stones popped up in the 98th minute to score an equaliser with the match ending 2-2.
Here’s how the players rated…
DAVID RAYA – 9
Well beaten for Haaland’s opener but continued his impressive start to the season with some super second half stops – notably from Haaland and Gvardiol.
RICARDO CALAFIORI – 8
A full debut the Italian won’t forget. Didn’t get close enough to Savinho for the opening goal but made amends with his stunning long range curler to level it.
GABRIEL – 9
Planted one header over but made no mistake with his second one just before the break to score for the second straight weekend.
WILLIAM SALIBA – 8
Clattered by Haaland early on and lost the Norwegian for City’s goal – but dusted himself down and led the rearguard action for the visitors superbly.
JURRIEN TIMBER – 8
Asked to play an unfamiliar role on the right but did a great job for his boss keeping the livewire Doku quiet – and did fine when Pep changed it around too.
GABRIEL MARTINELLI – 7
Caused Walker plenty of problems in the first half. Played the ball back for Calafiori to score and teed up another great chance for Trossard.
DECLAN RICE – 7
Helped Arsenal work their way back into the game after early onslaught – and protected the back four so well when City were camped on the edge of the box.
THOMAS PARTEY – 7
Quick thinking from free-kick led to equaliser – also involved in the collision with Rodri that changed the course of the game.
BUKAYO SAKA – 6
Always a threat with his corners – not least when Arsenal got their second. Subbed at the break to make way for an extra defender.
LEANDRO TROSSARD – 4
Steered good chance over. Booked for pulling back Savinho then a second yellow for barge on Silva and then delaying the restart. Stupid from the Belgian.
KAI HAVERTZ – 7
Early collision with Rodri and caused a few problems in the first half but then had to focus on helping his 10 man team out defensively.
SUBS
WHITE – 7
(For Saka 46) – Thrown on to shore up the defence at the break – and did exactly that.
KIWIOR – 6
(For Calafiori 74 )– Gave the Italian a rest for the final few minutes and kept it tight.
JESUS – 6
(For Martinelli 87) – Some good pressing against his old team in the closing minutes
LEWIS SKELLY – 6
(For Timber 90) – Good experience for the youngster but was bizarrely booked before even coming on for his debut.
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