Manchester City star Manuel Akanji criticizes Arsenal’s tactics and delivers defiant message

Manchester City star Manuel Akanji has criticized Arsenal's tactics following their 2-2 draw at the Etihad on Sunday, accusing Mikel Arteta's side of excessive time-wasting and actively seeking out drama during the match.

John Stones scrambled home a last-ditch equaliser to rescue City a point against Arteta’s ten-man Gunners following Leandro Trossard’s contentious red card at the end of the first half.

The visitors fought back from Erling Haaland’s ninth-minute opener and came within touching distance of sealing their first win at the stadium since 2015 after Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Magalhaes found the target.

But the two teams had to settle for a point, leaving City with a slender lead over Liverpool and Aston Villa at the top of the English top flight. Arsenal, meanwhile, trail Pep Guardiola’s men by two points down in fourth place.

The heavyweight showdown between the reigning Premier League champions and last year’s runners-up proved a highly chaotic and bad-tempered affair and tensions boiled over at the full-time whistle, with an irate Haaland overheard telling Arteta to ‘stay humble’.

‘I think it’s what they’re looking for, it’s always the way when we play against them. That’s what they’re looking for: drama,’ City defender Akanji said in the mixed zone after the draw.

‘Going hard early doors, defend, 11 players in their own box and then go on set-pieces and try to score a goal.

‘I mean it worked for them. If they’re happy with one point… we’re not really. Obviously we tried to get more but I think that’s what they’re happy with.’

Akanji was quick to remind Arsenal of City’s dominance in recent years and their unbeaten record this season, adding: ‘At the end of the day we’re still top of the league. We haven’t lost a game yet.

‘I think we tried, especially in the second half when we were one man up but it’s hard when there are ten players defending in their own box.

‘We tried our best, we had to keep pushing until the end and luckily we scored a goal and in the end it’s one point.

‘It’s not easy to officiate a game like this because it’s being played really hard right from the start. It’s not easy to do that. We tried to do our thing, tried to play our game but in the end it turned out the way it did.’

Asked whether Arsenal have become the masters of the dark arts, Akanji replied: ‘Yeah, but in the end we always won the title and I don’t think it’s going to be different this year.

‘I don’t think there’s a lot of teams better than them [at the dark arts], no.

‘It’s not about the time wasting and things like this because we can’t control it, that’s up to the referee to do.

‘In the end it’s obviously hard to score against any team that have 11 players in their own box so we tried our best. If we don’t concede the two goals it looks different but it was maybe one goal two much.

Akanji said he saw a member of Arsenal’s backroom staff tell David Raya to ‘go on the floor’ as the away team desperately defended their box in the closing stages.

‘In the end we have to defend ourselves because in every duel, every free-kick that was given, they went on the floor, get up, sprint back again, go on the floor again,’ the Switzerland international continued.

‘With the goalkeeper, an official or one of their team went over to tell the ‘keeper to go on the floor.

‘There’s nothing we can do about it in the end. It’s up to the referees throughout the whole season to control the situation but there’s nothing we can do about it.’

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