The daffodils that crowd the central reservation of Princess Road, the artery that flows into Manchester from the south and skirts Moss Side and Manchester City’s old home at Maine Road, are beginning to fade and wilt, the clocks have gone forward and, on Monday, April will be upon us.
It is the season of rebirth and English football is waiting for Pep Guardiola’s side to put the hammer down and accelerate away from the rest of the field at the top of the Premier League because that, too, has become one of the rites of spring in the age of sky-blue domination.
City have not lost for 117 days so they are doing their bit but there is something different about this year. For all their usual indomitability, they cannot see their rivals in the rear-view mirror yet. Because something else has changed, too: Arsenal are not going away this season.
Sure, if anyone won this dour 0-0 stalemate at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon, it was Liverpool. If Jurgen Klopp was delighted at the end of his team’s 2-1 win over Brighton a couple of hours earlier, he was even happier when this draw between his team’s two closest rivals left Liverpool two points clear at the top.
This game was enthralling at times and turgid at times. And if it was rarely thrilling, it was still a high-quality match between two sides who looked so nervous of the consequences of losing that they were unwilling to commit everything to winning.
Manchester City and Arsenal missed out on top spot in the Premier League after a 0-0 draw
Nathan Ake came closest to breaking the deadlock but his header was kept out by David Raya
Gabriel Jesus hooked an audacious effort wide of the near post against his former club
City were the more positive side, of course. Arsenal retreated to a low block and challenged City to break them down. ‘When they hardly allow you to enter the box,’ Guardiola was asked in the press conference after the match, ‘what’s the solution?’
Guardiola barely missed a beat. ‘Kill someone?’ he said.
Short of utilising that option, City probed and probed at the Arsenal defence without being able to find a way through. Still, Guardiola was far from disheartened. He spoke eloquently afterwards about the inevitability of other sides closing the gap on City year-on-year but when he was asked who of the top three were playing at the highest level, he was unhesitating. ‘Man City,’ he said.
It was way too early for it to be a title decider but Arsenal stopped City scoring at home for the first time in more than two years. It showed a different dimension, a different level of grit and character to Arteta’s team. it will have left Liverpool and Arsenal more encouraged than Guardiola’s men.
It was at this stage last season, don’t forget, that Arsenal’s title challenge crumbled. They had lost 3-1 to City at the Emirates in February and then capitulated 4-1 to the champions here in April. If there was one thing to take away from this game, it was that the gap between these two teams has narrowed significantly.
Arsenal beat City at the Emirates in October and kept another clean sheet here. They have snapped the losing pattern against City and released themselves, for now, from Guardiola’s psychological stranglehold.
After the game, Arteta talked City up. ‘They are the best team in the world by far and they have the best manager in the world by far,’ the Arsenal boss said. ‘To get anything here, you have to ask “are you ready to follow 30 passes and then when you lose the ball are you ready to follow 30 passes again?”’
Erling Haaland was shackled superbly by the visitors, with William Saliba standing firm
Substitute Jeremy Doku jinked onto his left foot but bent his effort wide of the target
Leandro Trossard was released into space late on but his shot was straight at Stefan Ortega
Arsenal, who had won all eight of their Premier League games in 2024 before this match and are still in the hunt to lift the Champions League for the first time, look way too good a side to crumble now.
That is partly down to the presence of Declan Rice and William Saliba, who was injured for Arsenal’s run-in last season. Arsenal parked the bus on Sunday afternoon and they parked it meticulously and efficiently. Even City could not find a way through.
And so the run-in quickens. Some say City have it easiest but the truth is, it is hard to pick when you analyse the fixtures of the top three. So many games have hidden dangers at this stage of the season. Liverpool have the advantage because they have the points on the board.
There were enthralling contests everywhere, most notably between Rodri and Rice, who were, by some distance, the best players on the pitch. Gabriel marked Haaland out of the game, Ben White even managed to wear down the brilliant Bernardo Silva in a war of attrition. That was generally Arsenal’s modus operandi: they wore City down.
City had begun the match still ruing the loss of players who suffered injuries during England’s international break. Any team, however deep its squad, is going to feel the absence of defenders of the importance of John Stones and Kyle Walker. City were also without goalkeeper Ederson again, even though there had been hopes he would be fit.
Gabriel Jesus, playing against his old club, was fortunate to escape a booking inside the first three minutes for a cynical foul on Bernardo Silva after the Portugal midfielder slalomed through the Arsenal defence. A few minutes later, Jesus nearly made an impact at the other end, peeling away from Manuel Akanji at the back post, taking a cross on his chest and volleying just wide.
City came close to scoring after 15 minutes when De Bruyne swung in a corner to the congested near post area and Nathan Ake rose highest amid the hordes. Ake was only four yards out but he did not get the cleanest contact on his header and it hit David Raya on the knee before the keeper gathered it gratefully.
Declan Rice and Haaland battle in midfield as both sides struggled to establish a foothold
Martin Odegaard looked to keep Arsenal ticking but the visitors were unable to find the net
If City had not been deprived of enough defenders already, Ake limped off midway through the half to be replaced by Rico Lewis. City’s patience began to be tested as Bernardo Silva and De Bruyne were subjected to a series of fouls and the referee Anthony Taylor’s yellow card remained resolutely in his pocket.
Half-chances were few and far between. One clever Arsenal move found Jesus on the edge of the City area but he dragged his shot across Stefan Ortega and wide. The other side of half time, Mateo Kovacic curled a shot just wide of Raya’s left-hand post.
Seven minutes into the second half, though, there were the first signs that the match was coming alive. When Josko Gvardiol lost the ball deep in his own half, Martin Odegaard worked it quickly to Bukayo Saka and Saka slid it across goal. It only needed a touch to finish it off but Jesus, sliding in at the back post, could not quite apply it.
City tried to hit back and Arsenal cut them down with a quick-fire series of fouls that particularly enraged De Bruyne, who waved three fingers in the referee’s face to suggest he should show three yellow cards.
Ake was forced off through injury, meaning Pep Guardiola has lost another key defender
Guardiola and Mikel Arteta, his former No 2 at City, shared a warm embrace before kick-off
After an hour, Guardiola went for it. He brought on Jack Grealish for Kovacic and Jeremy Doku for Phil Foden, who had had a quiet game. Arteta reacted with two like-for-like substitutions, bringing on Thomas Partey for Jorginho and Takehiro Tomiyasu for Jakub Kiwior.
Ironic cheers rang around the ground midway through the half when Mr Taylor finally brandished a yellow card, booking Jesus for kicking the ball away. Jesus appeared to find his caution bitterly funny, as if Mr Taylor had told him a bad joke. His yellow card was long overdue.
Six minutes from the end, it seemed City might be about to break the deadlock. Gvardiol flicked on a corner at the near post and Erling Haaland ran on to it at the far post. Raya came out to try to block a shot but Haaland seemed to miskick the ball or anticipate a challenge from the goalkeeper that never came. He failed to make contact with the ball. It was the game’s last chance.
