Arsenal lost, but took a big step forward

What could have been a spectacular start to 2022 for the Arsenal Football Club turned into a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday at Emirates Stadium.

Bukayo Saka struck first off a brilliant feed from Kieran Tierney at the 31 minute mark. The Gunners looked enthusiastic, alert, poised and downright was the better of the two clubs in the first half. There is no doubt this is a completely different football club than Manchester City faced on August 28th. Our lads pressed, forced turnovers and looked to be on the front foot for the first 45 minutes, however, everyone knew City was hardly done.

The second half began, and then the wheels came off at the 57 minute mark when Granit Xhaka was spotted pulling on the shirt of Bernardo Silva in the penalty box. After a VAR review, Riyad Mahrez nailed the equalizer past Aaron Ramsdale. In my humble opinion, Silva was diving to the ground before Xhaka tugged his shirt, thus, no penalty. A total BS call by Stuart Attwell and VAR.

Then, just minutes later, Gabriel picked-up his 2nd yellow card of the game and was sent to the dressing room with a red car disqualification. With the Gunners now chasing a draw with 10 men, City dominated possession of the ball, and in the 3rd minute of stoppage time, Rodri slotted home the winner. Final score, Arsenal 1 – Manchester City 2.

Aaron Ramsdale told Arsenal.com his thoughts on the Xhaka penalty, “I felt it was soft. The linesman said he didn’t think it was a penalty, but then they get told to go and check it by VAR. I’m more annoyed about the fact that they didn’t tell them to check ours in the first half on VAR. The referee might have said ‘no penalty’ anyway, but in game time, both times it was ‘no penalty’ for them and us, but he gets to go and check there’s and not ours. That’s where my frustration is, the inconsistency between one decision and the other.”

The way this match unfolded in the second half is truly heartbreaking for our club and its supporters. Arsenal hasn’t beat Man City in the Premier League since Barack Obama was president, however, after the way our team played in the first half, it looked like there might be a chance to end their string. However, due to some poor refereeing, and a couple of missed scoring opportunites by Arsenal, the City steak continues.

Now, with all of that said, the Gunners have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Each and every man on the pitch played their hearts out, giving every inch of themselves to this effort. I am exptremely proud to be an Arsenal supporter today. Yes, we lost, but it was still a damned good performance by a demand good team against a damned good team.

I’m sure Mikel Arteta, who had to watch the match from his home, is also very proud of his team, and proud of the distance they have travelled since August 28th. The Gunners took a big step forward today, win, lose or draw!

The Gunners have three straight cup matches to play before returning to their Premier League schedule on January 16th at Tottenham Hotspur.

Gunner1953