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From fresh midweek 0–0 draw The match was between two clubs whose last meeting had ended goalless. This was not always the case Manchester City faced with ArsenalThe problem for Londoners, however, was that Pep GuardiolaThe team scored the most goals. Two seasons ago, the matches that shaped the title race ended 3-0 and 4-1 in favour of City. However, last season the matches that were considered title deciders ended 1-0 and 0-0 in favour of Arsenal. City still retained their crown.
but if Jurgen KloppDeparture from Liverpool mikel arteta With Guardiola established as the biggest rival, showpiece occasions may be changing. Some of the thrill of them is gone. Klopp’s contests with Guardiola were fascinating in part because they featured so many goals: they were more likely to end in a 2-2 draw than a 0-0 one, and the spectacular scorelines included 5-0, 4-0, 4-1, 4-3 and 3-2. Some came with Arteta than with Guardiola; now they are in neighbouring dugouts and opposing camps. Allies became adversaries, purists have begun to show a purist tendency.
Before March’s stalemate, Arsenal had conceded 19 goals in their previous six league meetings at the Etihad. Yet last season, City scored 96 goals. Premier LeagueBut none against Arsenal. They had 264 shots on target but just two against Arsenal: one at home, one away. And they both came from defenders: Josco Guardiol at Emirates Stadium and Nathan Ake at the Etihad. Even the only goal City scored against Arsenal in the campaign came from a player who has since left the club, Cole Palmer being their Community Shield scorer.
And thus came a reunion that Guardiola thinks could be something of a repeat. Will it be like last season’s double bill, with no incidents, and the defenders dominating? “Similarly,” he suggested. “Last year they were playing tighter.” Which reflects the defensive revolution brought to Arsenal by Arteta: they conceded 48 league goals in 2021-22, but conceded only 29 last season.
In five games across all competitions in the current campaign, Arsenal have conceded just once, and that too when their side were reduced to 10 men.
“Everyone knows they have grown year after year,” Guardiola said. “They do many good things: high pressing, defending deep, transitions. They are a complete team. That’s why they have been our biggest rivals in the last two seasons. Every season they have been getting stronger – squad depth, adding more players of top quality. They have been close but we are still stronger.”
Now it’s a test of both City’s strength and Guardiola’s intellectual and tactical ability to find solutions to the problems. Yet there are obstacles. Two seasons ago, Kevin De Bruyne unlocked Arsenal twice with the brilliance of a genius, but He may miss the rematch because of a back problemErling Haaland was expertly controlled by Alessandro Bastoni and taken out by Internazionale on Wednesday. William Saliba and Arsenal pose a similar challenge. They did so last season.
“To score goals, you can score from many different aspects,” Guardiola said. “Setpieces are not easy because they are taller than us. In transition, their (players) runs in behind are faster than our offensive transitions. When we are able to set them in behind, they are very strong defensively and they collect a lot of players. They go to the striker, they go to the holding midfielder. The difference between the spaces… we saw against Inter, they defend space. They have incredible runners to be defensive with people in the channels, inside, in the middle.
“Saliba and Gabriel are incredibly focused with Erling all the time. It’s not one against one, it’s always one against two or one against three. So it’s difficult to attack them. In 2024, they haven’t lost away (in the league), they drew one game against us and they won the others. It’s not just one or two games, there are many games where they are solid and consistent. They don’t concede goals and the opponents don’t create many options. So I have to read well how we have to do it.”
If Arteta has turned Arsenal into arguably the best defensive team in Europe, this is perhaps City’s response to Guardiola. If they shared ideas when they were together, they have shared similar ideas when they are apart.
Oleksandr Zinchenko seemed to be a classic Guardiola full-back, a converted midfielder whom Arteta then signed. Yet both managers now show a fondness for playing strong central defenders as full-backs: Guardiol could take Zinchenko’s old place as City’s left-back while Ben White is deployed on the right of the Arsenal defence.
Guardiola has been a trendsetter in many respects. His Barcelona were influential because they came after some decisive games in the 2000s that lacked goals. Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez could exchange 0-0 and 1-0. Two decades later, clean sheets seem as fashionable as they used to be.
If the Guardiola vs Arteta battle was about style, it is now about tenacity.