Mikel Arteta says Arsenal did something vs Man City that has ‘never happened in 17 years’

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Arsenal came from behind to draw against Manchester City in the Premier League.

The Gunners had a decent start to the game, but they sloppily conceded in the first half. Erling Haaland made a terrific run past several Arsenal players and gave the visitors the lead.

After that spell, Arsenal dominated the game, so much so that Pep Guardiola parked the bus in the second half by taking his striker off and reverting to a back five.

Mikel Arteta has now had his say on that.

Mikel Arteta delivers verdict on Arsenal’s dominance over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City

Manchester City have always been a dominant side under Guardiola.

The Spaniard’s entire philosophy is based on possession, and he always asks his players to get the better of the opposition on that front.

On Sunday, however, Guardiola chose to sit back and defend deep in the second half. It was a system that Jose Mourinho would’ve been proud of.

Arteta knows Guardiola better than most, and having seen his mentor’s entire managerial career, the Arsenal boss has revealed that his compatriot has never done what he did at the Emirates.

When asked if he was surprised by people accusing him of playing with a handbrake, Arteta said as per Arsenal.com: “In football, surprised? I’m not surprised about anything. No, because I don’t read it [the reaction], but I do get told a little bit what the narrative is around it.

“If you tell me that this is the main one, if I’m surprised, I will be extremely surprised. With my knowledge and my know-how, and how I analyse a football game, it was impossible for anybody to predict such a dominance from Arsenal throughout 96 minutes because it never happened in 17 years of Pep [Guardiola] as a manager.

“So if the narrative goes somewhere else and we talk about dominance, about something else, how can you be dominant against such a team if you have a handbrake?

“Dominance and handbrake are two different words, but I accept everything. I will learn more to have a different vision.”

Many pundits have changed their tune after Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City

In the 2024/25 season, when Leandro Trossard was shown a red card after Arsenal went 2-1 up at the Etihad, the Gunners decided to deploy a low block in the second half to protect their lead.

The North Londoners almost pulled it off, but a very late goal secured a draw for Manchester City.

The narrative from pundits following that game was that Arsenal were negative and had a problem with their mentality.

Now, after watching Guardiola do the same but with 11 men, many of those same pundits have changed their tune and praised the Manchester City boss for his approach.

That is very unfair, but as Arsenal fans, we have become used to this bias over the years.