Man City v Arsenal: Did Haaland just save Gabriel from a red card? Was this the moment the Gunners lost the title?

City were not rampant this time. Arsenal went away from that bruising defeat in April 2023 and returned stronger, physically and mentally. And yet, Haaland was still able to hold off Arsenal’s biggest and most important defender as he fired the winning goal to settle a colossal clash. Following Jeremy Doku’s surge into the box and Nico O’Reilly’s flick across goal, Haaland pounced on the chance as he held off Gabriel to volley in. In a fascinating tactical duel, City had the muscle to take a step closer to the title.

Should Gabriel have seen red card for Haaland head butt?

So, turns out Gabriel was a little bit frustrated by being beaten to the ball by Haaland for the winner. In the 83rd minute, there was another flash point between the pair after Gabriel fouled Haaland from behind and the striker pushed the defender away from him when he got back to his feet.

Gabriel reacted by putting his head towards Haaland’s and they stood for a moment with their foreheads touching. But Gabriel then made a second movement and pushed his head towards Haaland’s for a second time. Haaland did not respond, as team-mates from both sides broke them up, but Gabriel was extremely fortunate that Haaland did not go down as it would likely have ended up as a red card for violent conduct.

Instead, both players were booked by referee Anthony Taylor for the altercation, while Pep Guardiola was also cautioned for his appeals. The Manchester City manager could be seen acting out a heat butt on the touchline.

The incident was checked by VAR, according to the Premier League Match Centre. “The referee’s call of no red card was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the action from Gabriel deemed not to be excessively aggressive or violent.“

With a title race that is this close, however, Gabriel staying on the pitch and avoiding a three-game ban for violent conduct could be crucial. “He can thank Haaland a lot, Gabriel, for not going down and holding his nose,” Gary Neville said on Sky Sports.

Was this the moment Arsenal could have won the Premier League?

Martin Odegaard stood with his head in his hands. Marc Guehi had been caught on the ball on the halfway line and suddenly Arsenal were away, Declan Rice playing out wide to Eberechi Eze and then Odegaard slipping Kai Havertz through on goal with just Gianluigi Donnarumma to beat. The goalkeeper stood tall and made a redemptive save, given his earlier error. Arsenal had a four-on-two but could not capitalise.

A couple of minutes later, Eze hit the inside of the post with a curling shot from the edge of the box, the rebound off the woodwork skirting across the face of goal. That was how close Arsenal came to taking charge of the title race and getting their hands on a first league trophy in 22 years. They had been under pressure from the restart, with Havertz’s chance their first shot on target since the equaliser. Eze’s shot stayed out by an inch.

Did Arsenal’s kick-off force Donnarumma’s blunder?

Almost 14 years to the day since from Fernando Torres’ goal for Chelsea against Barcelona, the early stages of Manchester City vs Arsenal gave us “Gary Neville at Camp Nou: The Sequel”. In the first few minutes, David Raya’s heavy touch from a goal-kick that almost rebounded into the net off the charging Erling Haaland, left Neville shaking his head and asking “what the hell” the goalkeeper was doing.

Then, just moments after Rayan Cherki’s stunning goal, Neville was at it again. The Etihad was still bouncing and there appeared to be no danger at all when Mathues Nunes went back to Gianluigi Donnarumma from a throw-in. But after Kai Havertz closed him down and the deflection looped up and into the empty net, Neville and Peter Drury were left with an all-timer of an “OOOAAAAH”.

Pep Guardiola stood with his hands on his head in disbelief. He had been asking his goalkeeper to go long before then, with Arsenal pressing well. Interestingly, Arsenal went into the corner straight from kick-off, rugby union style, in an attempt to pin City back following Cherki’s opening goal. Nunes then obliged by throwing back to his goalkeeper.

‘Special’ Rayan Cherki evokes Messi with stunning goal

Lionel Messi had an ability to make even the greatest defenders look a bit silly. See, for example, his goal against Bayern Munich in the 2015 Champions League semi-finals that twisted Jerome Boateng inside out and reduced a towering World Cup and Champions League winning centre-back into a meme for the rest of his career.

It wasn't quite as humiliating, but what Rayan Cherki just did to Gabriel Magalhaes, the best centre-back in the Premier League this season, wasn’t too far away, either. Starting his run from outside of the box, Cherki twisted right and left and slipped past Gabriel’s outstretched foot as he entered the box. That just doesn’t happen to Gabriel, but this was a special goal.

The manner Cherki then wriggled away from Declan Rice and slid his finish under William Saliba and away from David Raya was sublime as well.