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The stand out fixtures for the weekend were the games between Arsenal vs Manchester City and Chelsea vs Liverpool. Both games lived up to the hype and expectations of fans and neutrals.

I am also tempted to talk about Manchester United and the mess at the club but it deserves a special article on its own as the scope of the mess is a broad one. I am fuming about the reports I am hearing about player attitude and morale since Ole left. Their stinking attitude to training and the new regime is now being manifesting on to the field of play with disastrous consequences.

Manchester United were abysmal against Wolves in their 0-1 loss at OT. How often have I said this? The inevitable first defeat of Ralf Rangnick’s reign has been coming the moment the United players kicked a ball in their game against Norwich. Norwich, Newcastle and even Burnley all deserved a positive result in their games with Man United. United avoided defeat in all 3 but their good fortune ran out at OT when Wolves came to town.

Anyway, back to the games I really want to talk about, Arsenal appear to have turned a corner under Arteta’s reign. And should now be taken seriously. I have never seen City rattled against any team this season the way they were against Arsenal on Saturday.

After dominating possession for the first quarter of the game, City were soon under the cosh from Arsenal who grew into the game and went toe to toe with City. Bukayo Saka deservedly grabbed Arsenal’s opener after a great cross from Tierney.

The first major controversy of the match was Ederson’s challenge on Odegaard which was not awarded as a penalty to the Gunners. Personally, I have seen the replays and it is my view that it was not a penalty. Of course, Arsenal fans would disagree. But replays show that Odegaard stamped on Ederson’s foot as he tried to hit the ball.

It was not a clear and obvious error according to VAR and they chose not to over rule the ref, Stuart Atwell. That is if we want to concede that there was some contact made on Odegaard by Ederson. However, replays show that Odegaard actually stamped on Ederson. To me, this type of scenario is one where opinion will be split and whatever decision the ref takes will divide opinion.

The next controversial moment was in the second half when Benardo Silva was fouled by Granit Xhaka in the 18 yard box. Arsenal fans feel that Xhaka tugged Bernado’s shirt after Bernado was already on his way down. But I feel Xhaka was dumb to have held on to Bernado’s shirt a fraction too long to give the impression that he impacted Bernado’s run.

There was no reason for him to tug his shirt anyway. I understand that sometimes these things happen unconsciously but that was very unnecessary from Xhaka. That tug made the decision for VAR to ask Stuart Atwell to review his decision not to award a penalty and Atwell after watching the playback was convinced that his initial decision was wrong.

Riyad Mahrez coolly stepped up and sent Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way.

Next talking point, Arsenal’s Gabriel gets a second booking after a foul on Jesus. Again, Arsenal supporters feel that Atwell was inconsistent. Some City players, notably Rodri, who made a lot of big challenges throughout the match escaped without a booking while Arsenal players like Gabriel were not so lucky. In this regard, I agree with aggrieved Arsenal fans.

City now had a one man advantage but Arsenal were the ones who created the better chances and if not for a comical foray into City’s 18 yard box by Atwell that impeded Martinelli’s run, Martinelli could have scored after a defensive mix up between Laporte and Ederson.

City exerted control of the game without really threatening until stoppage time when Rodri managed to time his late run and sneak through the Arsenal defence and poke the ball into the net to send City into rapturous celebrations.

Arsenal will not mind losing to any elite team in a gallant manner. The Arsenal team played without fear and played very well. Perhaps those Arteta faithful who popularised the slogan “Trust the process” were right after all.

The Chelsea-Liverpool game was excellent for 45 minutes. The second half was a bit cagey with the best efforts coming from Liverpool in the second half through Mane and Jota.

The first half though was excellent. Tuchel as many expected, opted to exclude Romelu Lukaku from the matchday squad in the wake of his interview with Sky Sports Italy where he complained about his experience with Chelsea so far since his return.

But Chelsea did not allow the Lukaku saga to derail their performance with Liverpool as they fought back after going 2 goals down with Sadio Mane and Mo Salah grabbing the goals for Liverpool.

Mateo Kovacic pulled one back as he scored a worldie which has to go down as one of the goals of the season with an excellent volley.

Christian Pulisic a few minutes later grabbed the equaliser with another excellent left footed volley after an excellent lay off from N’golo Kante (who was outstanding all game) to draw Chelsea level just before half time.

With the kind of managers and personnel involved, you can only hope as a neutral that the game would continue with the intensity and excitement that was in store for us in the first half but most often than not, managers and players tend to learn from the mistakes quickly and nullify any lapses that led to the excitement in the first place and try to gain more control.

In the end, both teams had to settle for a point. Manchester City on the other hand now look nailed on to retain their PL title as their closest rivals continue to lose ground. Liverpool will be losing Mane and Salah for a few weeks due to AFCON commitments. How significant their absence will be is left to be seen.

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