After John Stones' last-minute dramatics to salvage a point for the title holders, Erling Haaland not only threw a ball at a deflated Gabriel Magalhães, but after the full-time whistle blew, proceeded to confront his provocateur and three different players of the Arsenal team.
The confrontation began with Haaland approaching Gunners boss Mikel Arteta and allegedly telling him to “stay humble”, while ex-blue Gabriel Jesus proceeded to defend his boss by telling Haaland to stay back and head to the dressing room. Then after a small pitch-side scuffle, Gabriel proceeded to reignite this fiery rivalry by pushing Haaland and also telling him to back off. With intervention from fellow blues teammates and some Arsenal players, including Premier League full debutant and scorer of Arsenal’s first goal Ricciardo Calafiori, the situation was quickly defused and players proceeded to fulfil media duties as planned.
The confrontation began with Haaland approaching Gunners boss Mikel Arteta and allegedly telling him to "stay humble"
Many subtle comments and digs were thrown during the media scrums, with Gabriel Magalhaes further igniting this now-giant rivalry by telling sky sports news that “we will be waiting at the Emirates for them” leading up to a tasty clash during the return fixture at the Emirates stadium on the 1st of February 2025. However, during all this drama, the FA have deemed Haaland’s conduct as “un-sportsman like” and blues boss Pep Guardiola could be without his star striker for an undisclosed number of games. Not only will this provide a lasting impact on the Man City team morale, but it will also further hinder them after losing their star midfielder Rodri for what appears to be the entire season after it was discovered that he had torn his ACL and Ruptured part of his meniscus.
Many subtle comments and digs were thrown during the media scrums
How will Haaland’s actions impact the Man City camp, and will they be able to salvage a gem from the rough to continue their defence for an illustrious 5th Premier League title in a row? With depth unlike any of Europe’s elites, it seems that many could be in line to succeed Haaland in the number 9 role with favourites being high-calibre players such as Brazil U-23 starlet Savinho and Belgian superstar Jeremy Doku. From a tactical point of view, this gap could lead to a tactical change for Manchester City and mean they potentially swap to a false 9 style route of play through their world-beating departments out on the wings. This has been previously used by Guardiola and was favoured during their 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns which saw Man City win back their title from previous winners Liverpool, and retain it for a further year until the arrival of the Norwegian scoring machine.
The question still remains whether the FA will proceed with their investigation, which could lead to a minimum of a 3 game ban for Haaland, leaving City with choices to be made regarding their future playstyle. However, for now it appears that this matter has had nowhere near as much impact as losing Rodri, with City dropping points on the road, first in the Champions League at the San Siro to previous Champions League finalists Inter Milan, then yet again at St James Park to a 58th minute Anthony Gordon penalty.
Will Manchester City be able to battle and retain their crown, or will we see a new champion emerge victorious at the end of this season?
