7 Things Learnt From Arsenal 1 – 1 Man City | Sayo Aluko

1] Beautiful game. I enjoyed it.

2] Arteta overthought, should have started Eze to easily win the game. But he didn’t. You dont bench a creative ace that bankable in game a this decisive both for points, but most importantly, for psychological reasons. A loss would have damaged mental momentum for them. You don’t want to be playing mental catch up in a potential title-charge this early.

3] Watching a Pep Guardiola team sit back so much in a game just left some humbling feel to it. The physicality, unpredictability, quality, pace, and nanosecond demand of concentration of the Premier League will humble anyone mahnn. Snooze and lose. No time. It is why I assert that while top teams in other leagues like Barcelona are better in technicality, they won’t survive a 38-game run in this league by standing on the mountain of tiki-taka. Baba Pep park small bus today nor be small.

4] Back to Eze’s assist for the equalizer. Go rewatch it keenly yo appreciate the deliberateness he used to put the roght weight behind that pass. I love players who THINK! I have rewatched the pass like 15 times in the space of minutes, appreciating the player in Eze like a sparkling bride. I had to stop myself when “Sayo, why are you gae???” started ringing in my head.

5] Donnarumma will be City’s signing of the season – he fumbled at the death, but that doesn’t erase the fantastic saves he made all game. He will save City a lot! Top top goalie!

6] Arsenal’s squad depth is unreal. Like, very UNREAL. We all fell in love with the way Myles Lewis-Skelly burst onto the scene last season in that LB. But watching Calafiori play that role in previous matches this season and in today’s game, one thing I could say was: injury na bastard. I mean, look at quite level-headed way Martinelli is using to prove his worth off the bench. And even if Nico O’Reilly did his best to handle Madueke, the Chelsea-LO still balled like an almost-Saka. If Arteta deploys this squad depth right, Liverpool will be worried, again.

7] Man City defended well and broke away well too, thanks to Doku dominance and Haaland’s surprising deployment of box-to-box pace; Arsenal didn’t relent in attacking them like Philistines implementing a siege; so, a point apiece is a fair outcome.