Manchester City were brought down to earth by Arsenal on Sunday afternoon but City striker Erling Haaland sent a reminder to the winners after the final whistle
After an afternoon of mockery, Erling Haaland finally bit back.
The Manchester City star was hounded by Arsenal players throughout the Gunners’ comprehensive victory on Sunday – he scored City’s goal in a 5-1 defeat – but managed to make his point at full-time.
The Norway international led City to the Treble in his first season and helped Pep Guardiola’s side retain their league title last term. It will take a miracle for him to make it three in a row, though, with City now 15 points adrift of league leaders Liverpool.
Haaland was locked in a personal battle with Arsenal centre-back Gabriel on Sunday, but escaped the clutches of the Brazilian to head City level with 35 minutes to play. However, Arsenal were the ones celebrating at full-time with Mikel Arteta’s side still in the title race.
They haven’t won a league title under Arteta yet though, and Haaland was quick to remind them – and perhaps Gabriel in particular – of the fact.
As the Brazilian had one final dig after the final whistle, Haaland couldn’t resist pointing to his gold Premier League badge – symbolising that he plays for the champions – and that Arsenal’s players cannot say the same about themselves.
City have now conceded 35 goals in the league, more than they let in throughout the entire 2023-24 season. Their defensive struggles have harmed them in Europe as well, with a play-off against Real Madrid their punishment for a lowly Champions League points return, and manager Guardiola made his feelings clear.
“I regret the last 15/20 minutes, the rest was a really good game for our side,” Guardiola told the BBC. “It’s difficult to understand when you see the result but this is my feeling.
“It’s happened all season, we are giving away too many things, we are aware this cannot happen, it happened. But we reacted really well and we played with personality and we defended so good and then with the ball we were a threat but unfortunately after the second happened, again many times we had the momentum. For the deflection and in other situations we conceded the goals.”
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Arsenal’s win owed a great deal to Myles Lewis-Skelly, who started at left-back after his red card from the win against Wolves was overturned. The teenager locked horns with Haaland in the reverse fixture – a game which happened to also be his Premier League debut – and he came in for praise from Gunners boss Mikel Arteta after the game.
“You need big individual performances to beat [Manchester City],” Arteta told Sky Sports. “Myles was certainly one of them, the maturity he showed and competitiveness as well. He plays with that personality and he’s scored a beautiful goal.
“He has been pushing us since he has been with us. We like his character and personality. He has so much courage. He has qualities that fit into the way we want to play. He got some minutes and he is asking for more. He deserves to play.”
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