Arsenal were beaten by Gary Neville just minutes into their crucial Premier League clash with Manchester City, but City ended up making the same mistake – and worse. The incident, which saw Gunners goalkeeper David Raya almost give up the ball inside his own box, left co-commentators furious. Speaking on Sky Sports, he responded: “That can’t happen at Arsenal, what the hell are you playing for?”
“The one thing Arsenal can’t do in the first five or 10 minutes is play a stupid little pass along the six-yard box, and they did it.” In an almost identical attack, Rayan Cherki watched his shot hit the post and cross the goal line. It was Gabriel Magalhães who had the decisive touch to deny his shot, and a handball claim was raised, but the penalty appeal was rejected and the incident was subsequently cleared by VAR.
Neville added, “Problem solved. He’s just bent over a little bit, Gabriel. It could be the shoulder, but it’s not easy to see what part of the arm or shoulder it is. It’s high up so you can see why they swung it.”
Arsenal bounced back well from a shaky start, but Cherki scored a stunning solo goal after 16 minutes to put them behind. However, similar to Arsenal’s mistake, City gave their opponents the lead just two minutes later with a ridiculous error from Gianluigi Donnarumma.
After Matheus Nunez threw the ball directly at the keeper, Kai Havertz took advantage of Donnarumma’s hesitation and quickly cleared it. The Frenchman first touched the ball without clearing it, but a block from Havertz deflected the ball into the corner of the empty goal. Neville responded with his trademark “OOOOOHHH!” And he added, “This is what we wanted.
“Cherki’s brilliance was negated. They forced Cherki into the back of their own goal! Arsenal have just answered the question. Do they have the courage? Do they have the courage to come here and do something? They have.”
City and Arsenal went into half-time tied at 1-1 against the Etihad, with Arsenal proving valuable after a solid first-half performance. Neville added: “(Pep Guardiola) inspired the team last week against Chelsea. He encouraged the team at half-time in the cup final. I think Arteta will be ready for that, I think he will be. He will be relatively happy with this first half.”
