Arsenal Fall Apart In Crazy Few Minutes Against Manchester City

Arsenal probably weren’t expected to get much joy against Premier League leaders City on Saturday afternoon, with Pep Guardiola’s side going into the game eight points clear of their closest rivals Chelsea.

But the Gunners were brilliant in the first half, may have had an early penalty, and went into the break leading 1-0 thanks to Bukayo Saka’s excellent goal.

Mikel Arteta’s team kept things going at the beginning of the second half but things suddenly started falling apart in the 53rd minute, when Bernardo Silva was brought down in the box by Granit Xhaka.

The referee initially decided there was no penalty but VAR called him over to watch the screen and he soon changed his mind, awarding the spot kick and showing the Swiss midfielder a yellow card.

Just after Riyad Mahrez equalised from the spot, Arsenal centre back Gabriel managed to pick up a yellow card for stupidly scuffing up the penalty spot before the penalty was taken.

With City level it might have been expected that the defending champions would go on and win, but they almost found themselves behind a minute later.

A mix up between Ruben Dias and Ederson saw the defender loop a header over his goalkeeper and looking like it would be a comedy own goal, only for Nathan Ake to clear off the line and Gabriel Martinelli to miss the follow up effort.

A minute later and the crazy moments finished off with Gabriel really regretting his numbskulled decision to mess with the penalty spot moments earlier.

The Brazilian blocked Gabriel Jesus on the centre circle as City attempted a counter attack, bringing him down, and picking up a very obvious second yellow card.