Gary Neville doesn't hold back with brutal verdict on Arsenal and Man City draw

Ex-Manchester United captain Gary Neville branded Arsenal vs Manchester City as a 'slugfest' after the Gunners rescued a point late on at the Emirates Stadium.

City adopted a different style of play in north London and that appeared to be working a treat - particularly after nine minutes when Erling Haaland broke the offside trap to slot home. From there, it was a case of whether or not the Gunners were going to be able to break down their opponents.

Arsenal dominated the ball upon the restart, but they also struggled to break their opponents down until injury-time when a ball over the top was not dealt with and Gabriel Martinelli chipped Gianluigi Donnarumma to share the spoils. The draw leaves neither side better off in this year's title race as both lag behind defending champions Liverpool at the summit.

Discussing the result at full-time, Neville insisted it was the Merseyside club who have come away as the biggest winners after that match. "Pep Guardiola shrugs his shoulders - he decided 25-30 minutes out from the end of the game how he was going to win it and he got so close," the pundit said on Sky Sports.

"But all credit to Arsenal, [Eberechi] Eze and Martinelli for that bit of brilliance at the end, but those blue shirts will be disappointed. It was a bit of a slugfest of a game, a real struggle that will not help either of them and Liverpool maybe [are] the winners."

Even at this early stage, a considerable gap has opened up between Liverpool and the Gunners at the top of the table. Five points separate those two clubs after just five matches.

As for City, they remain lagging behind and have picked up the same amount of points (seven) as their city rivals United who have been deemed to have endured a poor start. Another busy week now awaits both teams as they enter the Carabao Cup in midweek.

Arsenal will travel to League One Port Vale next while City face former Premier League club Huddersfield Town. After that, the Premier League will return with the Gunners visiting Newcastle on Sunday, September 28 and the Blues hosting Scott Parker's Burnley a day prior.

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