Arsenal and Manchester City could not be separated in playing out a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium, leaving Liverpool five points clear at the summit of the Premier League table.
City got their reward for a brilliant counter-attack early, when Erling Haaland showcased fine hold-up play before surging into the box to receive the final ball and finish calmly.
Arsenal took attacking initiative in bringing both Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka on, however they struggled to break City’s deep lying defensive block.
Guardiola’s defensive intent was summed up by the withdrawal of Haaland for defensive midfielder Nico Gonzalez but Arsenal would eventually equalise with the clock in the red.
Winger Gabriel Martinelli lofted one over Gianluigi Donnarumma in the last major act of the match as the sides played out another draw.
Roy Keane dismisses Guardiola bizarre complaint
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Roy Keane was in the Sky Sports studio for the fixture between the two title hopefuls, zoning in on Guardiola’s claim that fatigue is an issue for his squad.
City beat United last weekend before battling Napoli at home on Thursday and traveling to London for their meeting with Arsenal.
However, Keane was quick to highlight what he perceived to be nonsense from the Spaniard who made a point of highlighting the issue in his post-match interview.
He is on about fatigue and the challenges of trying to win league titles but that is part of the challenge which City have done over the years so I am surprised by Pep.
“We are in September, they are off the back of two home matches – they were fairl comfortable beating United and Napoli had a mant off after 20 minutes.
“They have not travelled from Russia or Poland… we all know the challenge is to be robust and play two or three games a week.
“There must be other managers looking at Pep thinking you have problems with strength in depth… my goodness… so I didn’t like that angle Pep was coming from.
“I am not really having Pep talking about fatigue when we are in September and they are on the back of two home matches, traveling to London.
“Pep is a big boy, I am sure they can dea with that.”
He also assessed that Arsenal spurned another chance to get a win in a potential title-deciding fixture due to one persistent problem.
Looking at Arsenal’s inability to turn possession into goals – Viktor Gyokeres received very little service up top – Keane determined that for all of Arsenal’s signings, a lack of creativity continues to blight them.
‘It is the same issues for Arsenal, on one hand you give them credit as they persevered and got a draw,” Keane reflected.
“But the problem is when you talk about Arsenal winning League titles, we saw what Liverpool did last year and City before them and they are still short in terms of their creativity.
“They are a really solid team, a very, very good team. But by the standards set in recent years they still look short in that area.”
Liverpool are already five points ahead of the Gunners and seven clear of City, although it is just five matches into the campaign.
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