Arsenal head in to the final part of the season in an unfamiliar position given the trends of recent seasons.
In the last two campaigns under Mikel Arteta, the Gunners have returned from the March international break in a battle with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City for the Premier League crown.
That is not the case this season with Arsenal trailing Liverpool by a mammoth 12 points and City even further behind in fifth place a further ten points back.
With the Champions League the only realistic hope of silverware David Raya has sent a warning to Real Madrid ahead of the quarter final clash but Arsenal fans will always have one moment against Manchester City in their minds at any time of the year.
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Robert Pires revealed reason behind ’embarrassing’ Arsenal penalty
In October 2005, Robert Pires struck a penalty to give Arsenal a crucial 1-0 win over Man City at Highbury however, the game will always be remembered for a missed penalty from the French star.
Having already converted from the spot, Pires looked set to bag his second of the game before an ’embarrassing’ incident involving Thierry Henry caused an amusing memory but Arsenal were not laughing.
As per Give Me Sport, Pires told the Times back in 2016: “”The story of our missed penalty is actually a funny one. The day before the City game, Thierry and I practised it at training. There was one difference though: he was passing and I was scoring. We never said we would do it against City if we had a penalty.”
Pires tried to roll the ball to the side for the on-rushing Henry to finish off but barely touched the ball, causing confusion amongst the duo and ultimately resulting in the referee awarding Man City a free kick.
Pires explained: “”It turned out that we got one. I took the ball to take it, Thierry didn’t say anything and I scored it, putting the ball on the right of the goalkeeper. Then when we were awarded a second one, Thierry approached me and said: ‘Let’s do it but we change the roles, you pass and I score!’
“It was not a joke, because you can do this penalty; I can pass the ball for someone and he can score, I said, ‘No, we cannot do this, it’s impossible.’ It was a very strange moment, especially for me, not for Thierry Henry, but for me it was very embarrassing.”
Man City defender Danny Mills reacted angrily to Arsenal penalty
Former Manchester City and England defender Danny Mills was one player who certainly did not see the funny side of the incident and reacted angrily towards Pires.
Mills approached Pires after the penalty and vented his anger at the French winger in what he perceived as an act of disrespect.
As per the Independent, Pires did not intend to cause any ‘disrespect’ and was merely trying to be creative on the pitch as he always did in an Arsenal shirt.
The incident will forever be remembered at Highbury as a rare occasion that two geniuses on the pitch were made to look very foolish, it proves that all footballers are humans.
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