Key events
74 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Ben White and Leandro Trossard replace Cristhian Mosquera and Eberechi Eze.
73 min There was a check for handball against O’Reilly but it definitely came off his side.
72 min: Gabriel hits the post!
Odegaard swings a free-kick beyond the far post, where Gabriel’s header hits O’Reilly’s side and deflects onto the inside of the post! Havertz, off balance, forces the loose ball towards goal and Khusanov blocks crucially.
Despite being under the pump, Arsenal have hit the post twice in the second half.
71 min Apart from those two near misses from Havertz and Eze, Arsenal have been on the back foot in the second half. Mikel Arteta needs to change something. Maybe it’s a job for Max Dowman.
70 min The second corner is half cleared to Doku, who mishits a left-foot shot well wide from a tight angle.
69 min Rodri’s long-range shot deflects over the bar. Cherki’s corner is headed behind for another.
68 min Hincapie shoves Haaland after another wrestling match with Gabriel. Haaland’s undershirt is ripped so he has to change it before play can resume.
Doku cut inside from the left and fed the underlapping O’Reilly, who calmly steered a speculative ball across the penalty area. Rodri distracted Hincapie at near post and Haaland held off Gabriel to clatter a left-foot shot past Raya.
It was a tremendous display of physical strength from Haaland because he and Gabriel were all over each other.
GOAL! Man City 2-1 Arsenal (Haaland 65)
Erling Haaland cracks City back in front!
64 min Eze was so close to adding another belter to his spectacular portfolio of goals. In that sense, he’s the Matthew Le Tissier des nos jours.
Incidentally, Guehi was booked for fouling Rice during the move that led to Havertz’s chance.
63 min “Accidentally found myself in an Arsenal pub for this game,” writes Rachel Clifton. “Very nervy place…. at least we have the mellifluous tones of Lee Dixon and Graeme Le Saux to calm them.”
It sounds weird but even if Arsenal lose today, they should take a lot of heart from their performance. Not even Banty McBanterface could accuse them of bottling it today.
61 min: Eze hits the post!
Eze receives the ball 20 yards from goal, swerves away from Khusanov and whips a thrilling left-foot curler that beats the diving Donnarumma, hits the inside of the post and flies across the face of goal. Goodness me, this is pulsating stuff.
59 min: Big save by Donnarumma!
A slick break from Arsenal ends with Odegaard putting Havertz through on goal with a short pass into the area. Havertz stretches to screw a shot that is superbly blocked by the outrushing Donnarumma. The follow-up – not sure who it was – dribbles towards the line and is cleared with time to spare by O’Reilly.
57 min “Well,” says Peter Oh, “I guess with that heavy touch and shambolic shipping of a goal, there goes the City and Italia keeper’s chance of earning the nickname Maradonnarumma.”
Talking of portmanteaus, I remain distressed that Arsenal’s march to the title in 2001-02 was never christened #Ljungbergkamp.
55 min I should have said that Martinelli has started on the right wing, which is where he was when he played that pass into Havertz. His pace could be important for Arsenal because they are struggling to get out.
53 min Martinelli shapes a fine early pass behind the City defence towards Havertz. Khusanov leans into him just outside the area and Havertz goes flying. He wants a foul – which would mean a red card for Khusanov – but Anthony Taylor plays on. It looked like a lean rather than a foul from Khusanov.
52 min After Eze is dispossessed just outside the penalty area, Doku pings a low drive too close to Raya. Once again, City have gone up a gear at the start of the second half.
51 min Rodri drives a terrific long pass to put Semenyo through on goal, but he can’t control the dropping ball on the volley and it runs through to Raya. That was a chance.
49 min There were a lot of players between Haaland and the goal, so that chance was probably tougher than it looked. Even so, for a player of his class, etc.
48 min: Haaland hits the post!
Cherki slides a pass down the side to Semenyo, whose cross deflects behind off Gabriel. Bernardo Silva’s inswinging corner is pushed away awkwardly by the under-pressure Raya. Khusanov’s shot is blocked and then Haaland, at a tightish angle, slaps the ball off the outside of his feet.
47 min “Kai Havertz came to the Premier League almost six years ago,” writes Matt Dony. “So I have spent over half a decade trying to form a satisfactory ‘Kai Havertz, and let slip the dogs of war’ joke. And I’ve failed. That joke is not out there. It doesn’t work. It can’t be made. I need to accept that, and move on with my life.”
I never took you for a quitter.
46 min City get the second half under way. Arsenal have made a change: Gabriel Martinelli, who equalised from the bench in the return fixture at the Emirates, is on for Noni Madueke.
“Arsenal would happily settle for this scoreline and therein lies the risk,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “At the risk of an hyperbole let me say this is the most important 45 minutes of this season.”
That Cherki goal gets better every time you see it. The touch and sleight of hip to beat Gabriel and Rice was pure Maradona. And though he finished with his right foot, for the rest of the run he was hugging the ball on his left like Diego.
Half-time reading
Half time: Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal
All square after a vigorous and often dramatic first half at the Etihad. Arsenal have played with admirable intent and deserve to be level, even if their goal was blooperlicious. Rayan Cherki put City ahead in the 16th minute with a gorgeous slalom; two minutes later, Kai Havertz equalised with a block tackle on Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The draw suits Arsenal, especially if they achieve it playing like this. City will hope to take control early in the second half, just as they did at Wembley last month.
45 min Just one added minute.
44 min “The emotion on display in the lead photo of Donnarruma after his screw-up is incredible,” writes Zach Neeley. “The most unbelievable athletic creatures but still as emotionally sensitive as the rest of us. Not me though, definitely don’t need to get in a sensory deprivation tank during half-time.”
43 min Another corner from Bernardo Silva is headed off the line by Saliba, this time at the far post. A foul was given for a block by O’Reilly on David Raya so it wouldn’t have counted, but those corners are worth keeping an eye on.
43 min Bernardo Silva’s inswinging corner is headed away by the player on the line at the near post. Good job as Raya was on the far side of goal and Bernardo may have been trying to score. I’ve no idea any more.
42 min Cherki dizzies Gabriel with a series of stepovers, then slips past him on the edge of the area and tees up Semenyo. His shot is well blocked by Hincapie.
41 min Madueke’s inswinger is headed away by Haaland. City have defended Arsenal’s corners pretty well so far.
40 min Arsenal respond with a good move. Mosquera crosses towards Havertz, who is shaping to volley at goal from eight yards when Khusanov belts the ball behind for a corner. Important interception.
38 min O’Reilly almost puts Rodri through with an imaginative angled pass that is crucially cut out by the stretching Zubimendi. This is City’s best spell of the game.
36 min Mosquera is booked for pulling back Doku, who had rolled him expertly and would have been away. Doku has been City’s most consistent attacking threat, even if it was Cherki who scored that glorious goal.
35 min “We were told in Act I of this season that Donnarumma was bad with his feet but we had to wait until Act III for it to pay off,” notes Niall Mullen. “Nice to see the Premier League obey Chekhov’s rules.”
34 min City have had 68% possession in the last 10 minutes. They love taking control of a game by stealth.
33 min Rice concedes a corner with an important tackle on Bernardo Silva, who was trying to get a pass from Haaland out of his feet in the penalty area. The corner is half cleared and curled back in by Khusanov. Guehi gets up early at the far post but heads straight at David Raya. Tough chance.
31 min O’Reilly is boxed in by Havertz and Madueke deep in the City half. A stud roll and a nutmeg later, he’s away from both and City are on the attack. Delightful composure and skill from a special young player.
29 min Madueke runs at Guehi, who stays on his feet and makes a good challenge. The ball deflects back off Madueke and behind for a goalkick, an ostensibly trivial detail but one that matters when Arsenal are playing. No opponent wants them to be receive any bonus corners.
27 min O’Reilly moves smoothly through the inside-left channel and finds Doku. He plays a sharp first-time pass into Haaland, who swishes well wide from the edge of the D. Half a chance.
26 min “Well,” says Eric Peterson, forwarding his email that we published at 2 mins, “this didn’t age well.”
25 min A bit of a lull in what has been a compelling first half. Arsenal continue to be far more aggressive without the ball, an approach that was rewarded spectacularly when Havertz equalised.
22 min The equaliser was a shambles but Arsenal deserved it on the balance of play. They’ve started really well and are going toe to toe with City in a manner few people expected.
20 min A chance on the break for City. They are three on two, with Haaland in possession, but he overhits a simple angled pass to put Semenyo through on goal. Semenyo tries to retrieve it and slips over.
19 min In the biggest game of the season, Kai Havertz has scored with a block tackle! And to think some people criticise Arsenal’s style of play.
