It was almost too wise, this new rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester City. Between the mutual admiration of the two coaches and the mostly uneventful players, there was no point in looking for sparks anywhere other than on the pitch for 90 minutes. But on Sunday, the tension rose a notch between Gunners and Citizens, following the victory snatched by Mikel Arteta’s men at the very end of the match.
The English press is delighting this morning in a scuffle that occurred after the final whistle. As Kyle Walker walked towards the locker room, a member of the Arsenal staff, Nicolas Jover, extended his hand to greet him. Hand ignored by Walker, and exchange of words between the two men. You should know that Nicolas Jover was previously part of the staff of… Manchester City.
Man City not used to leaving beaten
The spat between the two men quickly boiled over, Haaland and Grealish then joined the scene and the tone rose. Several clashes then started, despite the intervention of Bukayo Saka, who did not play the match but who tried to calm things down. Manchester City must have had a hard time with this second consecutive defeat in the Premier League and the joy, logically, of the Gunners at the end of the match, to fail to control themselves.
After the meeting, Pep Guardiola wanted to be mysterious about this incident. “I know what happened, I won’t talk about it,” he said, enigmatic. Asked if he thought Arsenal had done well, he replied “yes, absolutely”. In any case, this spices up the duel between the two teams. Arsenal didn’t last long last season to snatch the title from the Citizens, but this time, they managed to beat Pep Guardiola’s team in the league. Here they are ahead in the standings, with two points ahead.
