Man City stars showed their true colours at Arsenal - and their fans responded

Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw at Arsenal but the performance was everything that their previous effort here wasn't

Manchester City were desperate against Arsenal - in the best possible way. Every ball was scrapped for, every muscle burned and every lung was busted in a magnificent collective effort that banished memories of the 5-1 surrender at the beginning of 2025.

There was plenty to delight Manchester City bosses from the performance, even if the positives would have felt that bit better if the team had left North London with a priceless three points. Erling Haaland's early goal gave them a valuable lead, and a superb defensive effort looked to have marked City out again as potential title contenders before they conceded in injury time to draw.

Arsenal gleefully took revenge against City here last season, routing them in a final 30 minutes that angered Pep Guardiola like few other performances have done. Out for revenge after being pipped to two titles, the Gunners got revenge and then some.

But there was a question mark for them - as there is more generally - going into this game of if they could still pick up a victory having completed what they initially wanted to. Entering the game as favourites against a much-changed City but with pressure already from champions and leaders Liverpool, could they win for winning's sake?

The answer in the first half was a resounding no as they were knocked off course by City and their, to coin a phrase, dark arts.

There was nothing murky about Haaland's opener inside the first 10 minutes, the Norwegian knocking a ball to Tijjani Reijnders inside his own half before sprinting past everyone else to receive the ball back and finish with his weaker foot past David Raya. There was no celebration for the watching Myles Lewis-Skelly or anyone else, just an expression that said Haaland meant business.

City's business for the rest of the half was disrupting Arsenal any way they could, and it worked a treat. The crowd began to count to eight every time Gianluigi Donnarumma got the ball in frustration at the time he was taking to restart the game, but whenever Arsenal did attack their attempts to target Nico O'Reilly was in vain.

By the time referee Stuart Atwell blew for half-time, Leandro Trossard had reduced the game to schoolboy stuff by throwing the ball at Bernardo Silva's intimate parts after being struck there himself by a pass from City's captain. Silva - already on a yellow card for a silly lunge - wasted no time in rolling on the floor to incite Arsenal even further and they stayed on the right side of the fine line they were treading.

That looked to be changing in the first 10 minutes of the second half after Arsenal brought Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka on at half-time and built up pressure. A City XI that was starting its third game in eight days looked tired at the very time that the hosts had new energy.

This is when everybody dug in though, with Donnarumma solid and Haaland using feet, head and anything else he could to clear from the penalty area. From the hour mark, City began to use Doku as an outlet to relieve pressure as well.

Despite the feeling of an Arsenal siege that included Haaland being replaced by Nico Gonzalez for the final 20 minutes, the visitors looked like they would see the game out before Gabriel Martinelli struck in injury time, latching onto an Eze through ball, to finally break their resistance.

The relief inside the Emirates will be matched by Mikel Arteta with the goal dampening the questions that there would have been for the Gunners had they lost. However, City will leave proud of their performance and believing that they can do something this season - which certainly wasn't the case the last time they left here.

It did not go unnoticed by the fans either. City players and Guardiola went over to applaud them for two minutes and received a terrific reception. City leave Arsenal stronger than they arrived - and that should feel like a victory even if the late goal denied them a win.

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