Mikel Arteta fumes at ‘obvious’ referee error as Man City clinch vital point against Arsenal

Manchester City secured a vital point against Premier League title rivals Arsenal thanks to a 97th-minute equaliser from substitute John Stones.

Arsenal went into halftime 2-1 up after goals from Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Magalhaes cancelled out Erling Haaland’s early strike.

But a second yellow card for Leandro Trossard on the stroke of half-time changed the game completely and Arsenal were forced to put 11 men behind the ball for the second period.

John Stones described it as a “vital point” following the game on Sky Sports, while Paul Merson said Man City were “devoid of ideas” as they struggled to find an equaliser.

When asked about Trossard’s second yellow card, which he received for kicking the ball away after fouling a Man City player, it was clear that Arteta wasn’t happy with the decision, although he didn’t explicitly say so.

“It is very obvious, I don’t need to talk about it. I think the red card is very clear, very obvious what people think,” Arteta said following the match.

“It is not my job to come here and judge what happened. My job is to survive in one of the most difficult environments there is in football for 55 minutes and try to get things done to survive.

“The rest is not my job, but it has already happened twice in five games which is very worrying to see in the best league the Premier League. “[The red card] makes the situation impossible. It is very, very hard to play with 11 players, with ten it is impossible. With ten you have to defend your six yard box time and time again.”

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Guardiola: ‘I admire my team’

Pep Guardiola, on the other hand, was pleased with his player’s valiant efforts against Arsenal despite them only getting a point from the match.

“A big compliment to Arsenal as they defended every ball until the end. We created chances, maybe not clear.

“They have Calafiori, Saliba, Gabriel, Partey and Rice -you know the commitment was so difficult.

“We did really well. They wanted to stop the game. We were patient enough. At the end we were fortunate and we tried to win in the second half.

“I admire my team. My team started well after interruptions for many things and after the first goal the referee asked the captains to talk.

“We defended really bad for the second one and they are incredible. Gabriel is so strong in that position.”

The result leaves Man City and Arsenal both unbeaten after five Premier League games, with Man City top of the table on 13 points while Arsenal trail by two and sit in fourth behind Liverpool and Aston Villa.

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