Manchester City failed to win again in the Premier League, with a draw against Everton seeing them climb to 28 points; but they could yet fall further behind their title rivals. It now means that Arsenal have watched Pep Guardiola win just one of 13 matches, which is surely leaving the Gunners somewhat sick that this wasn’t happening last season.
There is, however, reason for a wry smile to creep across faces of Arsenal fans, especially when they look back to when Erling Haaland decided to snatch headlines after the 2-2 draw. As Mikel Arteta walked past to striker, cameras caught Haaland telling Arteta to “stay humble” which the Spaniard responded to with a lengthy glare before Gabriel Jesus jumped in to speak his mind on the matter.
Arteta was, naturally, questioned on the quip but simply threw it up to it being part of the game. “It’s part of football, part of sport,” he said. “After the game, all that goes away and we move on. That’s it.”
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When asked about his good friend Pep Guardiola’s side’s poor form at the end of November, before it got even worse, he seemed to believe that it was for the short term. He said: “What I’ve made of it is what they’ve done for nine years.
“I think that’s what people have to talk about – how difficult it is what they’ve done for nine years consistently. A bump, everybody has a bump.
“For them, it’s very strange because in nine years they never had it. That tells you as well the level and environment that we’re in, that everything has to go almost perfect.
“I think that’s what people have to talk about – how difficult it is what they’ve done for nine years consistently. A bump, everybody has a bump.
“For them, it’s very strange because in nine years they never had it. That tells you as well the level and environment that we’re in, that everything has to go almost perfect.
“The performance has to be perfect, the ability of your squad has to be perfect, things have to go your way. The level of the opposition is different and it’s so hard to win.”
Since the draw with Arsenal, City did manage to get some positive result in the immediate aftermath. However, a defeat against Tottenham kicked off a 13-match run which has been heavily influenced by a dip in form of Haaland.
Even in the games prior to the poor City run, there were signs of a drop in his output. Up to and including the match with Arsenal, Haaland scored 10 goals in six matches, taking 28 shots with a conversion rate of 35.7%.
However, following the game with Arsenal, the Norwegian’s numbers have been nowhere close to this prolific norm we have become so used to. In 17 games, Haaland managed just eight goals, taking 70 shots with an 11.4% conversion rate.
City have been very reliant on Haaland to score their goals in the last two years despite the wealth of talent in the team. Yet the likes of Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva have not stepped into the void, nor have newer talents like Jeremy Doku or Savinho; from an Arsenal perspective, long may it continue.
