For the first time after nine years, Arsenal were really close to a win at Etihad against Manchester City. Only a 98th minute Stones goals prevented their win in a game in which they came from behind and took a lead, before defending for almost 50 minutes with 10 men. And that was the second time in three matches that their player was sent off for a dubious yellow card. On the other hand, Manchester City players are fuming about Arsenal‘s behavior, the falling, the drama, the fouls and called them the ‘masters of the dark arts‘. Recent video and photo evidence showed midfielder Bernardo Silva making a hand gesture taunting Arsenal’s lack of trophies as he was annoyed by players‘ behavior. Other video evidence showed that teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly was cautioned for unsporting behavior after appearing to relay a message to David Raya as the substitute trotted behind Raya’s goal line while warming up in the 65th minute as the Gunners led 2-1.pic.twitter.com/vMe6OCObRZ— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) September 24, 2024 On top of that, Opta stats showed that the Gunners are league leaders in time wasting when matches stop for corners, goal kicks, free-kicks, penalties, throw-ins and kick-offs with an average of 31.8 seconds, while City take 25.4 seconds on average. And that prompted Manuel Akanji to aim dig at Arsenal players.“Always when we play against them, that’s what they’re looking for – the drama. Going hard in the duels, defending with 11 players in their own box and then trying to score from setpieces. I don’t think there are many better than them at it the dark arts in Europe. Yeah they’re the masters of the dark arts but in the end, we always win the title and I don’t think it will be different this year. That’s what they’re looking for in the end. We have to defend ourselves because in every duel and every free kick that was given, they went on the floor. Players go on the floor to get up, sprint back again, go on the floor again. One of their team went over to tell the keeper to go on the floor and stuff like this. There’s nothing we can do about it. In the end, It’s up to the referee to control throughout the whole season these situations. It worked for them so if they’re happy with the one point, we’re not – we tried to get more but that’s what they’re happy with“ said the Swiss defenderHey, Pep, they’re close and ready to fightBernardo Silva spoke in similar tone, and aimed dig at Arsenal players in obvious frustration.“Well, perhaps because Liverpool has already won the Premier League and Arsenal hasn’t. Liverpool at that time had also won a Champions League, while Arsenal hasn’t. Liverpool always faced us head-on, to win matches. From that perspective, our games against Arsenal haven’t been like the matches against Liverpool were, and still are. It all started in the very first second. In the first action we realised what was going to happen. We had a player injured after they sent him to the ground twice in 10 minutes. We had a goal conceded after the referee called our captain and then didn’t allow him to recover his position. The second goal is already their usual block to our keeper, which was allowed by the referee. Then the referee allowed a sequence of time-wasting events. The thing that bothers me the most is having a lot of meetings with the FA at the beginning of each season. They tell us they will control this kind of situation and will stop them, but in the end, it doesn’t have any worth. They say a lot but nothing happens!“ said fuming Silva.ELF CUP ROUND 3Tuesday21:45: (1.03) Chelsea (14.0) Barrow (35.0)21:45: (1.12) Man.City (8.00) Watford (16.0)21:45: (7.00) Walsall (4.30) Leicester (1.42)22:00: (9.00) Wycombe (5.30) Aston Villa (1.28)Wednesday21:45: (1.12) Arsenal (8.00) Bolton (16.0)22:00: (1.35) Liverpool (4.80) West Ham (7.50)
