Arsenal 1-1 Man City: Gabriel Martinelli’s moment of artistry and brilliance shifts the mood as the Gunners escape another crushing defeat – and crucially keep title rivals Liverpool in sight

As an autumn sun set on the Emirates, Arsenal^[1] were staring at the prospect of the lights going out on their Premier League^[2] season. Seemingly on the verge of losing to yet another big rival without scoring a goal, Mikel Arteta^[3] and his players could already see Liverpool^[4] disappearing over the crest of a hill at the top of the table.

With a visit to Newcastle – where they don’t always do well – to come next Sunday, Arsenal were facing another long week of soul searching. Another defeat in the north-east and it would have been time to put a big ring round the dates of the two domestic cup finals.

But in the Premier League, the margins are often tight. Games, weeks, months and seasons can turn on the back of an isolated moment of madness or magic. Moods can shift with the swish of a boot. And that is what happened here in north London.

With two minutes of added time played and Manchester City^[5] holding on to a lead given them in the ninth minute by Erling Haaland^[6] with relative comfort, the ball broke in the Arsenal half. The City midfielder Rodri^[7] looked favourite to reach it but by then exhaustion had beaten him. For once the great Spaniard was second best.

And when one Arsenal substitute Eberehci Eze picked out another with a ball over the top, Gabriel Martinelli^[8] ran clear of the City back four to lift a bouncing ball over the advancing goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with the outside of his right foot and into the far corner. It was a beautiful, artistic and perfect finish. It had to be all of these and it was, rivalling Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch^[9] for goal of the weekend.

Liverpool, of course, have already beaten Arsenal this season and have won five out of five. Defeat to City here would have been undeserving for Arsenal. Pep Guardiola^[10]‘s team had only 30 per cent possession. But that would only have made it all the more crushing and devastating.

Gabriel Martinelli snatched a stoppage time equaliser to earn Arsenal a 1-1 draw with Man City

Martinelli raced onto a through ball and attempted to lift the ball into the Manchester City net

The substitute’s lobbed finish over Gianluigi Donnarumma sparked Arsenal celebrations

As it is, Arsenal have something to cling to and lift them. Indeed the home team’s need felt great from the start and it showed. Arsenal were emotional and frenzied early on, too much so at times.

With City going through a period of transition and relative uncertainty, this is a time when Arsenal should be able to benefit from their own more gentle sense of growth and development. Instead, this season has already felt more challenging for them than it should be. Here against a team they demolished on this same pitch last season, they seemed to be in control of the game in the opening moments and then fell behind. Maybe nobody was surprised.

City had hardly been out of their own half when Haaland collected a loose ball after an Arsenal attack broke down 35 yards from the visitors’ goal. But the great Norwegian’s five-yard nudged pass to Tijjani Reijnders was a decisive contribution as it allowed his team-mate to gallop upfield into acres of space.

With the Arsenal defence torn open and Haaland keeping pace with him on his right side, Reijnders chose the right moment to complete perhaps the longest one-two of the season. His pass back to Haaland was perfectly timed and the City forward was able to control the ball and side-foot it simply past David Raya and into the corner.

It was a goal that came out of nowhere and it set Arsenal back a little bit. Without key players such as Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Eze in the starting line up, the home team needed a foothold back in the game quickly and though it came on the back of decent spells of possession, they lacked composure and a cleverness in the final third of the field.

Too much of what they did was hurried and this enabled City to live a rather untroubled life for much of the opening period.

As always, the Emirates crowd was vocal and often unhappy. They didn’t like the fact play was stopped after Reijnders slipped and didn’t get up. They didn’t like the fact City goalkeeper Donnarumma was taking so long over his goal-kicks. More than that, they didn’t like the fact Arsenal couldn’t find a cutting edge.

Indeed City had the next two chances. Mikel Merino was mugged outside his own penalty area and when the ball was recycled, Reijnders drew a low save from Raya. Then Jeremy Doku ran laterally to feed Rodri who ballooned an effort over. With five minutes of the first half remaining, Arsenal had only managed one shot. There was a flurry before half-time, the highlight of which was a sharp turn and low shot from Madueke that Donnarumma saved low at his near post.

Erling Haaland had fired Manchester City ahead early by finishing off a superb counter attack

It marked the Haaland’s sixth Premier League goal in five games for Pep Guardiola’s side

Star man Bukayo Saka marked his return from injury after coming off the bench at half time

Pep Guardiola’s side had just 30 per cent possession and looked to soak up Arsenal’s attacks

Still, though, Arteta was unimpressed enough to make two changes at half-time as Saka and Eze came on for Merino and Madueke. City also introduced a substitute as Matheus Nunes replaced Abdukodir Khusanov.

Almost immediately in the second half, Arsenal were better. They were quicker but also more precise. Their passes were born of better selection and their strikes on goal were truer. Three times in the first five minutes of the second period, Arsenal threatened.

Martin Zubimendi shot over and then Eze worked Donnarumma with a thumping volley. Almost immediately Saka saw an effort blocked. It was not a siege but it was intense.

City needed stout defenders and a calm goalkeeper and they showed themselves to possess both. When Leandro Trossard volleyed towards the corner, a sky blue leg blocked the ball. When the Belgian collected the ball again and crossed low from the left, Haaland cleared it.

And then, suddenly, a City chance. Doku rode two challenges in his own half and sent Haaland away. Had the City striker fed Phil Foden on the right, the lead would have been doubled by a tap-in. Instead he shot with his left foot and Raya dropped to parry. It felt like a big moment in the game.

Haaland was eventually taken off with less than fifteen minutes remaining. Soon after Donnarumma was booked for time wasting. Both of those things went some way to illustrating the pattern of the game. City were now committed to playing without a centre forward and against this background, Arsenal made another attacking switch as defender Julien Timber was replaced by the Brazilian winger Martinelli. It proved important.

With ten minutes left, Donnarumma made his first mistake of the game as he came for an Arsenal corner and dropped it. The big Italian got away with it and will probably feel he deserved to. The City goalkeeper had been excellent all day.

For the next ten minutes, City were largely untroubled. It seemed Arsenal’s sting had been drawn. But when the visitors lost the ball in the Arsenal half with two minutes of seven added played, Arteta’s team finally cut loose.

City’s midfield anchor Rodri was running in sand as he tried to close down the ball. And when Eze picked out the run of Martinelli with the perfect chipped through ball, the Brazilian ran on to it to loop it majestically and artfully over Donnarumma and into the corner. It was a goal and a point that Arsenal absolutely deserved. And without doubt, it feels like the most important of this short season so far.