Photograph: Wikimedia Commons/Cléria De Souza
The Etihad is in many ways a haunted house for Arsenal. At the hands of their sky blue tormentor, the Arsenal defence has suffered extreme punishment so often in recent years it is difficult to narrow down the cruellest torture to just one occurrence.
Last season’s 4-1 thrashing was a gut-wrenching dismissal of any semblance of hope that had been built up through a surprise title charge. The inexplicable wink celebration from the stand-in captain Rob Holding, after a consolation goal, marked the ridiculousness of the entire performance and naive Arsenal title collapse.
Potentially, the previous term’s 5-0 thrashing was the most humiliating but then you could probably count the Gunners lucky it was only five when the back-line is analysed. Cédric Soares, Calum Chambers, Rob Holding, Sead Kolašinac and Kieran Tierney cost a combined £43 million – a total cheaper than the individual price of every Manchester City defender that day.
The most comical howler came, as it so often did throughout his time at Arsenal, when Shkodran Mustafi played the entire City attack onside to give the chief menace, Sergio Agüero, a second goal. City went 2-1 up just before the break and undid all of the previous 44 minutes’ hard work – and, of course, Arsenal missed out on the Champions League by a point.
But why all this doom and gloom? Arsenal are no longer that team, the cries ring out.
Precisely. But, in order to truly appreciate and understand the triumph of the weekend’s stalemate, the demons of years gone by must be exorcised.
Mikel Arteta and Arsenal have, naturally, drawn criticism for their rigorous application in Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash and for their refusal to go all-out and force a statement victory at the Etihad. It was, to be completely honest, an incredibly dull game for a neutral fan.
It is understandable for a neutral to be frustrated. It was meant to be ‘Super Sunday’, a clash of titans, two heavyweight champions going blow-for-blow, not dancing around one another, too wary to look for the knockout.
The reality is this was never going to be a high-octane affair. Arteta is far too stringent to turn a war of attrition into an uncontrollable bloodbath, and that’s before the man he gleaned the knowledge from in the opposite dugout is considered.
The reverse fixture at the Emirates saw Arsenal eventually break the Pep-Premier League-hoodoo but only through a deflected Gabriel Martinelli effort. It was a fortunate, albeit deserved, victory that displayed in full, monotonous glory what happens when two, psychotic tacticians try and out-manoeuvre each other.
It is boring, but that is a testament to the new Arsenal rather than a slight.
Arsene Wenger transformed George Graham’s boring, boring Arsenal into an enchanting rhythm of flair, art and beauty. But, eventually, it came at a cost of grit, backbone and defensive know-how which plagued the club for years.
Boring, boring Arsenal had become banter, banter Arsenal.
At least until Mikel Arteta took charge. In both of the two seasons prior to his appointment, Arsenal had conceded over 50 Premier League goals. Now, they could be on their way to conceding less than 30 with none of those goals at the hands of City.
Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba have been integral to hounding out the ghosts of the past. Across the three games the sides have played this season, City’s new head of defensive murders and executions, Erling Haaland, has had two shots – both of which came on Sunday and, more importantly, were off-target.
It can be tedious to laud the defensive partnership incessantly, and even more so for a neutral to keep hearing the lavish praise. But when the club still bears the deep scars left by City’s attacks on previous weaker pairings, it is right to feel a semblance of awe.
For Arsenal to be labelled ‘boring’ for escaping unscathed from their former torture chamber feels unfair and short-sighted. Going from punishing thrashings with Holding and Mustafi for protection to dull shutouts with Gabriel and Saliba deserves credit, not criticism.
Besides, the Gunners could end up in another helter-skelter seven-goal thriller tonight against Luton. Wouldn’t that be boring, boring Arsenal?
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Jack McRae writes... 