Ian Wright says Arsenal benefited from a ‘massive mistake’ during their thrilling Premier League draw with Manchester City.
John Stones bundled home a 98th-minute equaliser to deny Arsenal a famous win at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday and preserve Man City’s unbeaten start to the new season.
In a highly-charged and controversial meeting between the two title rivals, Manchester City took the lead inside ten minutes through Erling Haaland, who racked up his 100th goal for the champions.
Riccardo Calafiori, on his full Arsenal debut, scored a superb equaliser that left Man City furious over what they deemed to be an error from referee Michael Oliver in the build-up.
The Gunners then took the lead before half-time through Gabriel’s powerful header before being reduced to ten men, Leandro Trossard shown a second yellow card on the stroke of half-time for kicking the ball away and delaying the restart.
Predictably, given their numerical advantage, Man City mounted attack after attack on the Arsenal goal in the second half but the visitors’ defence produced a hugely impressive display to keep Pep Guardiola’s side at bay.
And they were just seconds away from sealing a famous win at the Etihad when Man City substitute Stones turned home a dramatic equaliser with virtually the last kick of the game.
Wright praised Arsenal for denying Manchester City their fifth straight league win but believes they were the beneficiaries of a ‘massive mistake’.
The Man City players complained to referee Oliver after Calafiori’s sensational goal as they felt the free-kick in the build-up was not taken from the position the foul occurred and were frustrated Kyle Walker was not allowed to return to his position following a conversation with the official.
‘I wouldn’t want that goal scored against me,’ Arsenal legend Wright admitted on Premier League Productions. ‘I sympathise with Man City.
‘Surely if you call the captain’s in you give them the opportunity to get back into position and then you blow the whistle. That just seems very logical to me. That should have happened.’
Wright described it as a ‘massive mistake’ and believes it encouraged Oliver to ‘even things up’ by sending off Trossard 26 minutes later.
‘If Trossard doesn’t get sent off, I think a lot of the chat would be about the mistake Michael Oliver has made with Kyle Walker,’ Wright added.
‘But even the foul [by Trossard] could easily have been a yellow card. So to kick the ball away, with everything that’s happened, there’s no excuse for it. I think he will look back and think, “gosh, what was I doing?”
‘I was thinking that at some stage he [Oliver] is going to look to even it up because that was a massive mistake that he made with Kyle Walker.
‘I think Trossard gave him the opportunity – not to send him off because there was no one else to blame but him – but I think something else would have happened and he would have evened it up somewhere else.
‘I genuinely do, because that would have been a massive mistake from the officials, what he did to Kyle Walker there.’
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