Pep Guardiola karate-kicked his own chair. Mikel Arteta celebrated and despaired in equal measure. Manchester City’s players boiled, struggled and finally ran happily across the rain-soaked pitch. Arsenal’s players, shaken by a goal from City’s John Stones in the 98th minute, collapsed to the turf in complete disheartenment.

And so it ended, a titanic battle at the top of the English Premier League that included pretty much everything — broken records, heroic defense, injuries and cards, Subscribe and NBA games, scrums and heavyweight fights and controversies.

Everything except one winner.

The match ended 2-2 and as everyone walked through the Etihad Stadium afterwards, everyone looked unhappy.

Unhappy because they had thrown away a lead and lost two points.

Unhappy because they all felt that referee Michael Oliver had done them an injustice.

They shook hands along the way, but also argued. They had clashed at 0:02 – two seconds into the game – when Arsenal’s Kai Havertz bumped Rodri with his shoulder. They clashed at 99:08 after Erling Haaland knocked the ball off Gabriel’s head while celebrating Stones’ goal and then collided with Thomas Partey immediately after the break.

They clashed throughout what many thought would be a tactical, cautious and boring match. Last season it ended 0-0, largely due to Arsenal’s reticence.

But six months later, the club came to life and set the stage for a months-long battle for Premier League supremacy.

Man City’s brilliant start

It started with City charging forward and Haaland continuing to write his name into the record books, overtaking the best defence in the world and cleverly and coolly scoring his 10th goal in just his fifth game of the EPL season.

He was the fastest player to score 10 goals in a single Premier League season and also the fastest player to score 100 goals for a European superclub in the modern football era. (Cristiano Ronaldo also scored 100 goals in 105 games for Real Madrid, but his 100th came in the 20th minute; Haaland’s goal came in the ninth minute on Sunday.)

Rodri’s injury, Arsenal’s controversial equaliser

For six fleeting, now forgotten minutes, Haaland’s outstanding performance was the defining moment of the game. Then Rodri went down and everything changed.

City’s Spanish midfield maestro, a Ballon d’Or contender, had only just returned from a long summer and a muscle injury sustained in the Euro 2024 final. Here he was knocked over by Partey, his knee buckled and the entire Etihad Stadium feared. After minutes of writhing and worry, treatment and pain, Rodri limped to the touchline and down the tunnel.

A few minutes later he was replaced by Mateo Kovacic – just as the next controversial act of the game began.

In the 21st minute, Arsenal were awarded a free kick in their own half. As Kovacic sprinted onto the field, referee Oliver called the captains of both teams, Kyle Walker and Bukayo Saka, for a discussion in an attempt to prevent the simmering match from boiling over.

During their 20-second conversation, Arsenal rolled the ball about eight metres in front of where the foul had taken place.

And after the conversation, with Walker still trotting back to his position at right-back, Partey quickly took the free kick, playing a diagonal ball over Walker’s head to Gabriel Martinelli.

Walker screamed at the obvious injustice and sprinted back to try and slow down Arsenal’s attack – which he succeeded in doing. But seconds later, Martinelli set up Riccardo Calafiori on the edge of the box. Calafiori, a defender who was playing 22 minutes into his first Arsenal appearance, curled the ball into the far corner with a stinging shot.

The City players protested, presumably because they felt Oliver should have given Walker time to get back into position before allowing play to resume.

The Arsenal players didn’t care and over the next 20 minutes they settled down, hitting City back and regaining some possession and control.

Then, in injury time of the first half, they turned the game on its head with a complex, well-rehearsed and perfectly executed set piece.

Arsenal’s set piece

Five Gunners gathered at the far post as Saka prepared for a corner. They had done exactly the same thing a few minutes earlier and City had failed to prepare for it.

Martinelli and William Saliba snuck in to block City goalkeeper Ederson. Calafiori targeted City’s Joško Gvardiol and made room at the far post – where City’s only remaining and smallest player, Bernardo Silva, had no chance.

Gabriel, who was initially positioned at the penalty spot, turned to reach Saka’s pinpoint cross and headed it into the empty net from close range.

Walker, who had tried unsuccessfully to tag Gabriel, screamed into his hands.

Arsenal staff hugged each other as the play was clearly rehearsed – just like a basketball midcourt play, with screens to the back and an alley-oop to a dunker sneaking behind unsuspecting, walled-off weak-side defenders.

Arsenal’s red card and resilience

For another six fleeting minutes, The was the story of the game. But just before half-time, in the eighth of six minutes of added time, there was another twist. Leandro Trossard ran into the back of City’s Bernardo Silva. Trossard had already been shown the yellow card. Oliver pulled out the second yellow card and sent him off.

In the video assistant referee’s room, according to the NBC broadcast, the VARs discussed and confirmed a reckless foul that deserved a yellow card – and therefore a red card.

But the Premier League later stated that Trossard was not given the yellow card for the foul, but for subsequently kicking the ball away and thus delaying play.

So further confusion and controversy ensued. Arteta, the Arsenal manager, was furious.

Then came 50 minutes of training – 11 against 10, blue attacking, red defending. The 10 in red were in a 5-4-0 formation and retreated into their own defensive third – or quarter or fifth. At times all 10 were in their own penalty area.

But City couldn’t beat them. The hosts – four-time reigning English champions, the best-oiled attack in football – couldn’t find a way through the best defence in the sport. Arsenal’s defenders slid from side to side, blocking every passing line. Midfielders constricted the space at the top of the box. Striker Gabriel Jesus came off the bench and played like he was the best left-back in the world.

City tried long-range shots and hoped for individual brilliance or a distraction, but none of this ever came.

Arsenal played with unwavering concentration – until the visitors let up for a split second after 97 minutes.

City’s Jack Grealish charged to the byline. Saliba cleared his cross, flexed his muscles and roared. But as he was being congratulated, Grealish raced to the corner flag. He quickly took the resulting corner. He dribbled back into the box and laid the ball off to Kovacic, whose blocked shot fell to Stones, who equalised with one of the last shots of a turbulent game.

And so it ended: City at the top of the table, Liverpool and Aston Villa one point behind, Arsenal also one point behind, still unbeaten, and with only one clear conclusion: both heavyweights will be at the top of the title race for months to come.