Arsenal welcome Bolton to North London tonight for the third round of the EFL Cup. Before that, though, let’s look at the numbers from Sunday’s Premier League trip to the Etihad.
MAN CITY 2–2 ARSENAL: BY THE VISUALS
MAN CITY 2–2 ARSENAL: BY THE NUMBERS
4 – Away games in our previous five fixtures included trips to Sp*rs, Villa, Atalanta, and now the Etihad – topping off what is undoubtedly one of the more difficult starts we’ve had to a league season recently.
2 – Soft red cards in the only games where we’ve dropped points this season. Against Brighton, Declan Rice saw red in the 49th minute, and against the reigning champions, Leandro Trossard received his marching orders in the 45th (+8) minute.
7 – Red cards Michael Oliver has dished out to an Arsenal player, obviously more than any other team.
Despite the tricky start and the questionable red cards, we’re fourth, just a couple of points adrift of City. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility to suggest we could be five from five if not for the incompetence of PGMOL.
Even so, I loved our performance on Sunday. Yes, their late goal (0.18 xG) was utterly sickening, and the sending-off ruined the game, but City, under Guardiola, are one of the best teams in Premier League history, if not the best. We’ve shown we can go toe-to-toe with them, both over 38 games and head-to-head, and we remain undefeated in our last four encounters.
5 – Shots for Manchester City when the game was 11 vs 11 players.
28 – Shots for Manchester City after Leandro Trossard was sent off.
From those 28 shots, 12 were blocked (43%), and nine were off-target (32%). Of the seven shots on target (25%), the six saved by David Raya had a combined xGOT value of 1.17.
On Raya, Andrew brought up an outrageous stat during Monday’s Arsecast Extra that is definitely worth re-mentioning:
69 – Shots on target David Raya faced during the entirety of last season, saving 45 (68%). This season, he’s already faced 26 shots on target but has saved 23 (88.5%).
I might do a deeper dive into that if the trend continues, but for now, let’s return to the City numbers…
16 – Pot shots from outside the box during the second half for Man City. I doubt there will be another Manchester City game this season where Rúben Dias and Mateo Kovačić are responsible for nine of City’s shots, nor will you see John Stones and Joško Gvardiol among their top three for expected goals on target.
But ultimately, that’s what ten-man Arsenal reduced City to. After Trossard was sent off on the stroke of half-time, Arteta shut up shop, played to his side’s strengths, and walked away from Manchester with a result for the first time in such a situation, stating he would have been thick not to adopt that approach.
415 – Passes attempted by Manchester City in the second half, with 94% finding a teammate.
349 – Passes played by Manchester City in Arsenal’s half (89%).
16 – Passes completed into Arsenal’s penalty area (excluding set pieces), with 13 (81%) completed during the second half.
96.5% – Field Tilt for Manchester City during the second half. Over the entire match, it was still a ridiculous 92% in their favour, but the hosts couldn’t convert their possession in the final third into meaningful chances after Haaland’s opener.
77% – Possession for City throughout the game, with 88% in their favour during the second half.
35 – Minutes the ball was in play during the second half, the highest of any league game this season.
– True tackles encompass all tackles won, challenges lost, and fouls. Tackles won and lost are basically the same, but overlook two key outcomes: winning a tackle means regaining possession during a challenge, whereas losing a tackle means possession isn’t regained. A tackle may be lost if the ball goes out for an opposition throw-in, is knocked loose for the opponent, or for other reasons. Therefore, including both outcomes provides a better indication of overall performance. True interceptions include blocked passes.
20 metres – This is the average distance from Arsenal’s goal where our defensive actions occurred. While our forwards engaged at an average of 32 metres from the goal, the back four were positioned just 15 metres from their own net, as Arsenal camped in their box, adopting a 6-3 formation and absorbing wave after wave of City’s pressure in the second half.
41 – Clearances for Arsenal with Saliba leading the way with eight. I’m going to predict, though I know it’s a bold statement, that we won’t register 40+ in another game this season.
6 – Recoveries for Thomas Partey (first overall). He has played every minute of the Premier League this season and participated in every minute for Ghana during the international break. Aside from their first goal, I thought he was outstanding on Sunday and has been improving physically as the season goes on, which has contributed to his better overall performances.
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There’s very little to glean from Arsenal’s statistics so far this year: only three teams have had less possession than our 42%, only Everton have had fewer touches on the ball, and we currently rank 16th in expected goals (xG) created and 8th in expected goals conceded.
However, it wasn’t part of the plan to lose a player just before halftime against the champions, nor to face Sp*rs without our first-choice midfield through injury and suspension. We’ve played two halves of football with ten men, and going to Villa is one of our toughest fixtures of the year. The underlying metrics will improve.
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Two years ago, Man City were praised for their ‘dark arts’ and gamesmanship when they won at The Emirates, flexing their muscles through tactical fouls, time-wasting, and staying down after challenges to get under our skin. Since Sunday, you could be forgiven for thinking Arsenal invented these ‘dark arts.’
Don’t let it take away from the fact that we were just seconds away from becoming the first team to win at City in 48 home games. It wasn’t to be, yet it was a performance to be proud of.
For now, our attention turns to Bolton’s League Cup visit this evening.
Follow me on Threads @jonollington
Sources: my own database, Opta, fbref, @Orbinho Threads feed
17 red cards under Arteta, 9 is the most for any other team. 15 points quite likely this season without 2 dodgy signings off.
We aren’t a team that kicks other teams, I wondered why these stats are as they are?
I wonder how much extra time there would have been if City hadn’t scored when they did…
It looked like he wanted them to score. We stood no chance
Look at how the reds were achieved.
Rice – “kicking the ball away”
Trossard – “kicking the ball away”
Martinelli – two yellows in one action, never to be seen again
Xhaka – halfway line against Swansea where every other player gets a yellow
Luiz – the Wolves attacker clipping David’s shin
Pepe – laughable Leeds defender collapses pretending it was a head butt
I’m sure there are more double standards to expose, as referees look to punish Arsenal.
Don’t forget Tomi for taking too long over a throw in
Agree with your reference to the City’s gamesmanship from a couple of seasons ago… The media praised it. They called us “weak” “emotional” etc. But the fallout from Sunday’s draw has been crazy! No one is referring to the fact that the cvnt, Oliver, ruined the game. That has been swept under the carpet that we were 10 MEN fgs! What where we supposed to do? BBC, DailyFail, Skysports, The athletic, etc all writing pages and pages of us using “dark arts” “time wasting” etc. The city players crying about it. I am amazed and baffled. It’s hard not to… Read more »
Let’s see if city can get 7 points from our place, villa park and the toilet bowl without Rodri
Amen
They won’t, even if they are happy hunters at toilet duck arena
We’re in a truly bizarre situation when a referee (Oliver) can choose not to book someone for a terrible tackle (Kovacic) because a second yellow would ruin the spectacle of Man City v Arsenal (2023); but if a player kicks a ball away (Trossard) then then a referee (Oliver) has no choice but to ruin the spectacle of Man City v Arsenal (2024). Why is kicking a ball away so much worse than a potentially leg breaking tackle? Why can Oliver not exercise some judgement in a time wasting scenario when he can easily add on the time lost, but… Read more »
Putting aside all of the other possible reasons for this that have been driving us all crazy, referees have forgotten that their primary responsibility is to protect the players. Their focused on demonstrating their control over the game by enforcing their silly little edicts that nobody watching the game gave a shit about until it became a stick to beat their opponents with
The rule is supposed to be delaying the restart for an opponent. Oliver got this wrong, as City could not restart with their player on the floor anyway.
Two seconds from whistle to red card in one action and he was waiting for the opportunity to upstage his Martinelli double yellow incident.
Why is it worse? Because it’s a cowardly policy the refs can hide behind, whereas breaking someone’s leg could be an “accident”
I don’t even get it as a rule. If a player boots the ball away then the ref adds the time on at the end – why does it need a yellow card? The time gets added, so who gives a shit if there is a small delay? We have to wait two minutes to find out if the goal we have just scored will even count – so book var for time wasting if we are going to book anyone 😂 As a fan I want to see some petty shit as it gets the crowd going and gives… Read more »
Your summary at the end was bang on, Jon.
These media dickheads pushing this silly ‘dark arts’ along with this bunch of Man City dickheads is patently hypocritical and will only serve to add fuel to the calculated Arsenal fire. Fuck them all, they running scared, cunts!
I’m also seeing articles ahead of tonight looking back fondly on when Allardyce’s Bolton used to kick the shit out of us. The media narrative isnt one single unified voice obviously but the juxtaposition of this with all the other bullshit written about us since Sunday is staggering.
It’s like they are on Citeh’s payroll! Can be the only explanation at this point. They are digging up videos from season’s past to support their argument. It’s boiling my blood. The real villain on Sunday was Michael Oliver. But It’s like they are desperately trying to cover that up… any other team would be getting praised for running away with a point at City after been 10 men down for over 50 minutes… instead, we are getting slaughtered. No one is talking about Haaland throwing a ball at Gabi’s head, barging into our players, Pep kicking his chair in… Read more »
Can spot a number of typos up there… apologies. I am just a bit heated with everything I am witnessing right now.
People please stop reading and watching these cunts. Let’s stay togheter and only be interested in articles and podcasts made by “our” people. That’s what i am doing and feeling very well. COYG
I get this… I have stayed away from it mostly. But I am unable to completely stay out of it. I have been in comments sections defending this club in the best way possible and will continue to do so. The way people are describing Mikel Arteta, you will think Osama Bin Laden came back to life and is now Arsenal coach — hard to stay silent then!
115 Al Fraud’s squad list should include Michael Oliver.
He’ll likely go take up a position with them when he retires- hopefully it’ll come early and that will happen this summer.