Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City Review

Premier League GW5

Manchester City were a few injury-time minutes away from securing three points against Arsenal on the weekend, but a draw, along with the desire the team showed throughout the game, will finish off an important week for them to build off.

MOTM: JEREMY DOKU

Notable Stats:

• Manchester City's draw at the Emirates included the lowest ever possession average by a Pep Guardiola team in a top-flight league match (today his 601st), while the two lowest have both been at Arsenal in the Premier League (32.8% today, 36.5% in March 2023).

• Erling Haaland’s opener for Manchester City is just the third goal Arsenal have conceded from a fast break in the Premier League in 2025, after Jarrod Bowen for West Ham in February and Bryan Mbeumo for Brentford in January.

• Erling Haaland's opener is the earliest goal Arsenal have conceded in the Premier League since September 2024, in what was also a ninth-minute goal scored by Erling Haaland.

Game Stats:

Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City

• xG: 0.87 - 0.98

• xThreat: 1.58 - 0.58

• Possession: 66.2% - 33.8%

• Field Tilt: 76.1% - 23.9%

• Penalty Box Shots: 10 - 3

• Deep Entries: 16 - 5

• PPDA: 7.1 - 13.4

• High Turnovers: 1 - 5

Tijjani Reijnders (530), Erling Haaland (496), and Ruben Dias (455) are the T3 for minutes played so far this season.

Rodri makes four consecutive starts for the first time since May 2024.

Jeremy Doku makes three consecutive starts for the first time since August 2024.

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

Guardiola went with the same starting eleven for three matches in a row, which, as you’d expect, would look like a tired team after playing United and Napoli. Only two days off before playing against Arsenal. A lot of the moments Manchester City were in possession came off turnovers, in transition, but when we did get brief spells of possession in the first half, you saw Foden move inside, and Khusanov hold the width on the right side. Arsenal usually play with a 4-4-2 block out of possession, but both wingers were quite aggressive in this match, and it became a 4-2-4 from them.

Manchester City initially pressed similarly to what we saw against Napoli, but with Rice dropping so deep, it eventually became a 4-4-2, and by the second half, they remained in that mid-block until the subs shifted it into a 5-4-1. They struggled to press Arsenal high, who retained possession as a result, and the opening for Manchester City came instead in transition.

Erling Haaland 9' 0-1  
Loose ball cleared, and both teams fight for it in the middle. Foden knicks it, an Arsenal player hits it back, Rodri then passes it into Haaland, who's able to turn and find Reijnders in space. Timber covering Doku, Reijnders, is left free to sneak into space, and Gabriel gets drawn into Haaland, opening up more space to break into.

Due to the run Doku makes, Timber has to stick with him. Reijnders showcases one of his best qualities with the long carry through to the final third. Smart to move through the middle, occupy Saliba, but leaves space/time for Haaland to attack. Reijnders times the pass perfectly into Haaland, who takes one touch with the outside of his left foot to set the ball and strikes with his right into the far left corner past Raya.

Before the season started, I put together a thread on the carrying ability of Tijjani Reijnders and why it would be important in games like those against Arsenal. Not only in the buildup, but to help the team carry the ball through the middle of the pitch in transition, which he does brilliantly for the goal. You can find the thread linked below. 👇

There were plenty of encouraging signs for the team Manchester City will develop into over the course of the season, and in the performances across the group. One of those was Jeremy Doku. Most duels won (13). Joint-most chances created (2) and shot-creating actions (4). 5/7 successful dribbles.

In this example from the Belgian, he picks up the ball in the box, bursting past the attempts by Arsenal to immediately win the ball, and dribbling past Saka. Carries up to the halfway line, drawing three Arsenal players towards him. Picks his head up, spots the run of Haaland and Foden, and delays before playing the ball through.

Foden was an option at the back-post, which would have killed the game at 2-0. Reijnders and Rodri had shots on the edge of the box before that chance. Doku had a big opportunity in the 82’ to secure the win and get a second goal, narrowly missing the far corner.

The biggest surprise for me when rewatching was how little work the team/defenders/Donnarumma actually had to do across the match. It was Manchester City with the best quality chances to score. Looking back at the Martinelli goal, it's a tough one to take, given no buildup towards it, and the team was close to getting over the line with three points.

It's a poor decision not to head towards the corner, and they're unfortunate not to have a foul given on Nico. If either Khusanov or O'Reilly hadn't come off with an injury, I'm not convinced they would have conceded the goal. Donnarumma's positioning makes up the mind of Martinelli. Savinho, who was very poor off the ball when he came on, doesn't make any effort to put pressure on the ball. Struggling to see him getting a consistent run in the team anytime soon. But Nathan Ake is the worst culprit. It's no surprise he's at the bottom of the pecking order this season for defenders.

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Moving Forward

I’ll start by congratulating Donnarumma on winning the Yachine Trophy last night, as recognition of his performances with PSG across the 2024/25 season. His second time winning the award that he won in 2021, following his Euro triumph with the Italian National Team. The award is for his work elsewhere, but from the first three games with Manchester City, there is a good reason to think Donnarumma can contend for this award in future seasons.

Continue with Donnarumma, who made some important punches from corners and saves inside his box against Arsenal as the team went on to draw the game. Work to be done on his distribution, the chipped passes to the left-back, he can slightly overhit, but I’d expect across the season, you will see the entire team improve in the buildup. Set up better for playing short, Donnarumma will play the short vertical passes into a pivot more often, and they’ll organise themselves to win the second balls more consistently around Haaland.

There is quite clearly an impact he’s had on the confidence of the group to defend more resolutely. Always communicating with the defenders. Celebrating one another for a block, clearance, or winning a duel. Last season, Guardiola mentioned that the kind of anxiety you see in strikers struggling to score goals is the same type of anxiety you were seeing in our defenders. Hesitant defending inside the box and on the ball. You can see the team is stamping that out and slowly building back to the stable unit of previous seasons.

That all brings me to the important, more general point, to start with, when looking back on the match against Arsenal. To understand exactly what type of performance we needed to see from the team in a match against a title contender. Last season, we weren’t at the pace to compete against Arsenal (A) and Liverpool (H/A).

Obviously, we’d love to win the game and to see a top performance. But, for the team, that performance at this stage isn’t about seeing Arsenal get dominated for 90 minutes, concede four goals, and barely touch the ball. We’re looking for the group to be together, resolute, and show real fight on the pitch. To recover the heart and soul of the team, as Guardiola mentioned after the Bournemouth FA Cup win last season.

Next, you have to consider the general trend of the Premier League, which is shifting to be more direct this season. If you only view Manchester City in isolation, you’ll exaggerate the shift.

Below are all of the Premier League games under Pep Guardiola in which Manchester City had less than 50% possession. The game against Arsenal had the lowest percentage. Second lowest is the win from the Treble-winning season. The losses to Brighton and Wolves stand out for being poor performances. In the win against Spurs (2025), the team struggled to control possession in the second half. Many matches on this list are against Liverpool under Klopp or Chelsea under Tuchel. Brighton under De Zerbi (2022).

This game against Arsenal was a combination of factors that led to Manchester City struggling to keep control of possession. New in its cycle, rebuilding the team, in implementing and experimenting with the pressing structure, and at the end of a long week. The team struggled to press Arsenal well in the first half. The intent was there initially, finished the game with the highest turnovers (5), and one turnover led to a shot. But, they weren’t able to remain sharp and tight to opposition players pressing high, so they often dropped quickly into a mid-block.

Start of the second half, it was clearly a 4-4-2 mid-block, and they weren’t looking to press high, just keep pressure on the ball, and remain compact. Given the early goal, the number of dangerous breaks the team had, and the lack of threat Arsenal posed, trying to break City down, it made sense to sit on the lead. Certainly didn’t have the energy to press Arsenal high in the second half.

Shifting into a 5-4-1 after the substitution of Foden for Ake stopped the backline getting overloaded, and meant City had a defender in the half-space. Limiting the overloads, Arsenal were trying to find out wide with Saka, Timber, and Eze. Unfortunate that Haaland is not fit to continue, and with Marmoush out injured, you didn’t have a sub capable of pressing well in the block and giving you an outlet. Savinho should have been that, but was poor off the ball. Marmoush, if fit, would have been the one to come on.

This situation, though, of playing a 5-4-1 low block by the end of the match, is from the circumstances of this week, and happens across the match; it’s not the intent from the beginning. Long term, the team will want to develop and control games better in possession whilst maintaining the qualities they’ve shown in the opening games when playing the ball quickly. Finding the balance. As you can see from the graphic below, the 17/18 team was devastating in transition when it needed to be, and could string together the longer passing sequences. Manchester City have the players to do that, but it will take time across the season to reach that point.

That all being said, it's a great week for the team across the three results, and a good platform now to build momentum off. Pundits, journalists, and outlets writing City off is only good news as the team gets on with its business. Look forward to seeing the rotated side on Wednesday and some minutes to the likes of Mukasa and Mfuni.

Nico O'Reilly did a tremendous job defending at left back against Madueke and Saka. It looked like the intent was to rush Madueke; he rarely got any time to set up a 1v1, and his angle towards the box. The only time Madueke has had 2+ take-on attempts in a PL match and tackled 100% of the time was against Manchester City yesterday and Ipswich Town (24/25). He’s shown across the week that Ait-Nouri won’t have an easy time getting back into the team this season, and that competition is great to see.

On the other side, Abdukodir Khusanov has impressed across the past three games playing at right-back, and picked up well-deserved praise from Guardiola. Given he’s capable of slotting in either side at CB and at RB, Khusanov is going to play a lot of minutes this season. His pace, sense of danger, and aggression are vital for the backline.

It's only early in the season, so one figure to keep an eye on is the xG conceded via a fast break per 90. This was a big issue last season: teams getting at least one excellent chance each game through a fast break.

xG FB Per 90
- 24/25 0.212
- 25/26 0.074

Tracking the number of involvements in open-play shot-ending sequences this season. So far, across all comps, the per 90 leaders are Foden (6.50), Haaland (5.08), Reijnders (4.08), Doku (4.08), and Bobb (4.03).

Small sample size, early in the season, but it is interesting to see how Haaland is doing across different shooting metrics. One of the standouts is the average shooting distance.

Next up for Manchester City is the League Cup match against Huddersfield Town (A) on the 24th of September at 19:45 (UK). This is a great chance to rotate the team, give minutes to those further down the pecking order, and see some of the academy players make their debuts. Burnley (H) is the next Premier League match, which will see the return of Kyle Walker to the Etihad.