Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, claims that he is being provoked into an intense rivalry with Arsenal. This comes after their fallout during the Premier League clash last weekend. A lot went down in the game.
Where it all started
Last Sunday’s fixture saw Manchester City clash with title rivals Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium. The match left all neutrals wishing for a bucket of popcorn with how much drama it saw. The teams shared the points at the end of the day with the scorecard stating 2-2, but the final whistle was not the end of the game.
Apart from the innumerable verbal spats, the game also saw City’s Erling Haaland deliberately throwing the ball at Arsenal defender Gabriel’s head after their last minute equalizer. There were also multiple controversial referee decisions that were contested mainly by Arsenal. Many pundits felt that Haaland should have been suspended for his behavior. The game drew widespread attention from across the world for the amount of chaos that resulted from it.
The extremely heated fixture refused to skim down even several days after it was played. Both sides continued to make allegations and remarks about the happenings of the day. City players Kyle Walker and John Stones accused Arsenal of using the “dark arts” in attempts to save their 2-1 led in the first half.
In retaliation, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta turned the narrative, claiming to be aware of all that was happening at City. With so much being said back and forth, both teams left the game with a sense of greater rivalry.
What Guardiola Had To Say
According to BBC Sport, Pep Guardiola has “declared a war”. He said that Gabriel’s words in the post-match conference were actually perfect. Responding to Gabriel’s claims that provocative acts are absolutely normal in football and are a part of the game, Guardiola said that he was now provoked and ready for war.
Arsenal made it clear that they were waiting to have Manchester City at their ground, and City too have now accepted the challenge.
Pep Guardiola commented on Arteta’s claims too saying that he wasn’t very sure of what Arteta meant when he said he know about what was going on at the club. He called for Arteta to be more clear with exact what he means next time. He guessed that the Arsenal skipper could be talking about the 115 charges City is facing, but could not say for sure.
Manchester City have been accused of nearly 115 breaches to the Premier League’s Financial Fair Play rules. They are set to attend a hearing for the same in two weeks and could be facing legal action.
Despite all that happened, Arteta still played down any questions suggesting a spat between the two managers. He said that he admires Pep’s team and work and that sport could never get in the way of their personal relationship at any cost.
Emotions Fueled by Title Rivalry
Over the past two football seasons, we have seen more rivalry between the two clubs than ever before. This has come with Arsenal’s fight for the title getting stronger day by day.
In the 2022-23 season, Arsenal were eight points ahead of other teams at the top of the table. However, they could not manage to finish above City who won the league with a 5-point difference. In the 2023-24 season, the Gunners once again led the title race until April. Unfortunately for them, a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa resulted in them finishing just two points behind City.
This heated rivalry has clearly translated into the current season as well, with tempers running high during their clash. Both teams probably felt the pent-up pressure from the close races in the previous seasons.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Arteta’s Arsenal are next set to clash in the Premier League on 1st February 2025. They could, however, meet in either of the domestic competitions between then. Whenever the next clash comes, it will definitely be interesting for us to watch how the rivalry plays out.
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