Title fight catches fire after Gunners embrace dark side

Arsenal-City clashes take on a welcome edge of animosity

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THERE was some delicious needle to Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City in last weekend’s clash at the Etihad.

Arsenal brought the “dark arts” in the second half after Leandro Trossard’s soft red card, and Mikel Arteta’s side got under their opponents’ skin. “Stay humble, huh?” was Erling Haaland’s message to Arteta, just seconds after the City forward had hurled the ball into Arsenal defender Gabriel’s head during the wild celebrations for John Stones’s 98th-minute equaliser.

City’s players made little attempt to conceal their contempt for Arsenal’s approach, which involved all 10 players camping behind the ball, protecting their 2-1 lead. “Only one team came to play football,” said Bernardo Silva, who accused Arsenal of gamesmanship. Asked if Arsenal were the masters of the “dark arts”, Manuel Akanji said: “Yeah, but we always won the title and I don’t think it’s going to be different this year.”

There are times when we need footballers to be role models, and others when we should relish them behaving like petulant children, and Sunday’s game felt like the latter.