If Arsenal’s draw with Manchester City on Sunday proved anything, it was that Mikel Arteta is in this for the long haul.
Unlike 12 months ago, when a mentally and physically bruised side turned up to the Etihad Stadium and shrunk in the face of inevitability, arriving with a chance to demonstrate champion material but leaving beaten up, this side went toe-to-toe.
Although the game had little in terms of true action, it was an attritional battle that mirrored the non-blinking face-off at the Emirates Stadium earlier this year.
Neither side gave in on their stubbornness: City happy to control, dominate, suck the life out of matters and Arsenal determined not to let their hard work go to waste.
City brought the dullness of proceedings upon themselves in some sense. Their suffocating start pushed Arsenal into a corner they were only too happy to be in.
Take the emotion out of things and the title could never really be won or lost here, but the impact of a result either way would be felt.
Did the potential risk of leaving Manchester with an eighth defeat in a row, a two-point gap to make up that grows more and more ominous when you consider that sweeping finishes are something of a yearly certainty, outweigh the benefits of winning this game?
A psychological battle was already won in some ways, the next step from beating City in the Community Shield to doing it in the league back in October to not rolling over here.
That Arsenal showed the steely coolness needed in a moment like this, a stark contrast to their emotional overload all too clear against Brentford last time out, was surely important enough to warrant taking this stalemate and parading it as an achievement that could lead to more.
Well, not everyone thought that. Here’s how the national media digested the game:
The Guardian
Such was the nature of the result and the fine edge this title race is on, even two reports from the same outlet had differing views.
Barney Ronay believes that the Gunners may well regret not doing more to try and steal three points with City lacking three-quarters of a first-choice backline.
“At the end of which Arsenal will probably be happiest of the two teams, if not as happy as Liverpool, who won earlier in the day,” he wrote.
“Arsenal wanted a 0-0 at the very least. And they got one, a gruelling, draining 0-0 that felt all the same like a slight missed opportunity. Did Arsenal miss a trick here?
“Arteta insisted afterwards that this was “an exciting game, and a good result”. Really? The first of these may be true in some tactical hyper-purist sense.
The second is arguable. The ultimate verdict on a cagey, no-frills, low block point at the Etihad Stadium will as ever be outcome-based, decided by what happens elsewhere, on other afternoons.
“But Arsenal also probably won’t have many better chances to actually win at City’s home. And here they played a different kind of game to the one that brought all those victories since the winter sun break.
Arsenal’s big thing is intensity, what L’Équipe has called “controlled euphoria”. This has involved starting quickly, hitting their opponents with that straight up red blitz, the press led with a kind of mania by Martin Ødegaard. Would they have the nerve to do it here?
“That would be a no. City lined up with a muscular blue wall of six primarily defensive players. From the early moments they pinned Arsenal in, killed the centre of the pitch, taking all the air out of that spaces.
There were collisions and stretched sinews, ruminative 27-pass moves. It was a total suffocation, pillow over the face football. City had control, but not a great deal more. This wasn’t end‑to‑end stuff. It was end stuff.”
David Hytner took an opposing view, though. “It is fair to say that the bar was set low for Arsenal,” he started. “On eight previous occasions in all competitions, they had visited the Etihad Stadium to take on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
On all eight they had lost. This was much better. It was not the statement victory they had craved, the one to ignite dreams of a first Premier League title in 20 years.
“But it was a result that kept them above the defending champions with another game chalked off, the margins narrowing further in the race for the title.
If Liverpool, watching from the other end of the East Lancs Road after their home victory against Brighton, were the day’s winners, going two points clear, then Arsenal could not grumble.”
He added: “Mikel Arteta, though, would have taken this beforehand. Arsenal are a club for whom the psychological questions feel perennial.
They showed some personality here; progress, too, as Arteta would mention afterwards. He had not forgotten the 4-1 mauling at this ground from last April; the result that pretty much ended Arsenal’s title challenge.”
The independent
Richard Jolly felt that the Gunners showed ambition in their cast-iron passivity. “Arsenal could savour the tedium,” he mused. “On a weekend overflowing with goals, the dullest game may prove the most consequential.
If the day’s great winners were Liverpool in one respect, as Arsenal were dislodged from the Premier League summit, as their 100 per cent record in 2024 ended, they showed their staying power.
“Arsenal did not win their war of attrition but they at least ensured they did not lose it. Last season’s title challenge suffered unmendable damage against Manchester City.
This year’s tilt did not. Mikel Arteta has suffered through eviscerations at the Etihad in the past. As Arsenal collected the first point there in Pep Guardiola’s reign, the champions were unable to breach Arteta’s red wall.”
He continued: “That was how Arsenal liked it. Destroyed by Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne last season, they sought revenge by subduing them, by crowding them.
And City lacked the spark, whether in terms of brute power, individual inspiration or clinically brilliant teamwork, to break Arsenal down.
“Arteta had a back four comprised entirely of centre-backs, two defensive midfielders and a team seemingly intent on revisiting some of the top-of-the-table clashes from the days of Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez, not the more action-packed events of recent years.”
The Evening Standard
Simon Collings is in the ‘point gained’ camp. “The Gunners will be the happier of the two sides, ending a run of eight straight defeats at the Etihad,” he wrote.
“The blue side of Manchester has so often been an unhappy hunting ground for Mikel Arteta, but for once he was leaving satisfied.
Arsenal are no longer top of the Premier League, with Liverpool leapfrogging them earlier on Sunday by beating Brighton. But, crucially, Arsenal are still above City and that will give them heart as they prepare for the final nine games.”
He added: “There are few sides who can boast they have kept Erling Haaland out – and even less who can say they have managed it three times.
But Arsenal completed that feat on Sunday as they claimed a valuable point at the Etihad. As was the case earlier this season, Gabriel and William Saliba were crucial to Arsenal keeping Haaland at bay.”
