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Breaking down every single Man City vs Arsenal dark arts moment

Published

1 year ago

September 23, 2024

Breaking down every single Man City vs Arsenal dark arts moment

It was a meeting of the Premier League’s two best teams, a battle of tactical masters, a clash of technical brilliance and pure drama.

Manchester City versus Arsenal just five games into the season lived up to its billing in many of the conventional ways and served up a memorable ending.

Yet it also proved that no heavyweight contest cannot be enhanced by a bit of s***housing (or, to be more precise, a whole lot of s***housing).

There was plenty of time for it. The match lasted 109 minutes and 17 seconds, which surpassed the previous day’s 109-minute, eight-second epic between Aston Villa and Wolves as the longest game of the season so far.

And despite some valiant timewasting efforts (more of that later), the ball was in play for 63 minutes and 28 seconds overall — the fifth-longest total in a game so far this season — and 58.1 per cent of the available time, which compared favourably to the 56.8 per cent average for the season so far.

But with City having almost 88 per cent of possession in the second half, Arsenal’s 10 men had to employ every trick they knew to withstand the barrage.

So forget for a moment the nuances of formations and the analysis of sublime skill. Here is a breakdown of the dark arts.

“Set the tone early, lads.” “Yeah, maybe not quite like that.”

It took just three seconds from kick-off for Arsenal’s Kai Havertz to barge Rodri to the ground as City shifted the ball back to goalkeeper Ederson and Rodri tried to block Havertz’s route towards the City goal.

Medics were on the field and straight away there were players in the ear of referee Michael Oliver, who was probably already wondering why he’d agreed to miss a Sunday afternoon on the couch for this.

VAR checked this incident and, while it could have merited a foul on the pitch, it did not merit an intervention — which would only happen in the event of a red card incident.

“Our striker’s bigger than yours.” Havertz is hardly a slight figure, but you would not want to get in the way of Erling Haaland in full flight.

Well, William Saliba did on four minutes as, to use the old-school vernacular, the Norwegian “left a bit on” the Frenchman. The result, predictably, was Saliba being flattened, although he dusted himself down admirably quickly.

Like Havertz on Rodri, this was also checked by VAR.

Just when a game of football was threatening to break out, the games of shoving returned in the 16th minute when ‘take one’ of a Manchester City corner was aborted after Thomas Partey followed Havertz’s lead by clattering Rodri off the ball, this time with a knee to the upper part of the Spaniard’s leg.

It all happened while City’s Manuel Akanji and Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber engaged in a spot of Greco-Roman wrestling a few yards away. A rare moment of double-dark-arts — and one with serious consequences, as Rodri was forced off with an injury.

Six minutes later, it was Oliver’s effort to put a lid on things that raised the temperature to a new level.

After calling captains Kyle Walker and Bukayo Saka together for a chat about controlling their team-mates, Oliver allowed Arsenal to take a quick free kick while Walker was still regaining his bearings. Gabriel Martinelli’s cross was cleared as far as Riccardo Calafiori and the Italian bent a shot into the top corner.

Needless to say, Walker was not happy. Neither was City manager Pep Guardiola, as his seat in the home dugout would confirm.

If Walker could claim the award for the afternoon’s most aggrieved man, he could add the one for the most hapless proponent of the dark arts.

His weird poking of Arsenal defender Gabriel as they awaited the delivery of a corner in first-half stoppage time might have been quite funny had the Brazilian defender not drifted easily away from the England man to leap and head home his side’s second goal at the far post.

Got him, got him, got him…

… yeah, lost him.

Not to be outdone, Leandro Trossard seemed to be out to prove he could be bad at s***housing too. Even deeper into first-half stoppage time, he was penalised for a foul but continued by booting the ball away. He would claim the whistle came too late to stop himself from acting on instinct.

Oliver disagreed and out came a yellow card. It was Trossard’s second of the half and a red immediately followed.

#MCIARS 45+7′
The referee issued a second yellow card to Leandro Trossard for delaying the restart.
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) September 22, 2024

There was a period of dark-arts calm at the start of the second half as Arsenal’s 10 men held on for grim life in the face of waves of City pressure, but 19 minutes after the restart, the war of tricks resumed as Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya went down requiring treatment.

It is possible the Spaniard was in genuine pain, but the ensuing stoppage allowed visiting manager Mikel Arteta time to conduct an impromptu team talk.

To add to the madness, Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly was booked for unsporting behaviour — he ran down the touchline and behind the goal. At the time, he was a substitute, having not played in the Premier League before — thereby collecting his first yellow before his first appearance. Lewis-Skelly made his Premier League debut later in the game.

And the delay was in keeping with the general approach of Arsenal, who took 42.7 seconds on average to restart the game after being awarded either a corner, goal kick, free kick or throw-in, the second highest of any team in any game this season.

By the 83rd minute, Arsenal were trying whatever they could to eat away precious seconds with Declan Rice booked for delaying a restart before, two minutes later, Martinelli went down in the centre of the pitch. He had limped on with cramp in less pivotal parts of the field.

And just to prove that anything Martinelli could do, Timber could do better, Arsenal then sent medics running on to the field to treat the Dutchman, despite goalkeeper Raya’s kick-for-touch failing to make it off the field, leaving Oliver having to bring play to a halt as City attempted to start an attack.

Timber was helped to his feet after initially going down in front of goal.

He limped away signalling to the sidelines for a substitute.

Having seen Timber fall again, a medic prepared to enter the field once Raya had hooked the ball out.

And, when Raya failed to find touch, the medic ran on anyway.

Martinelli was eventually replaced by countryman Gabriel Jesus, who proceeded to get involved in some skulduggery almost immediately by picking up a booking for blocking a corner from a yard while lying on the floor.

And then, in the aftermath of John Stones’ dramatic City equaliser eight minutes into stoppage time, City apparently could not resist the urge to turn the tables of chicanery. Guardiola and one of his coaches were booked for breaching regulations on behaviour in the technical area.

Haaland recovered the ball from the net and pinged it off the head of an unsuspecting Gabriel as the Arsenal defender hid his face in his shirt.

Just to ensure Gabriel was really angry, Haaland recreated Havertz’s earlier barge on Rodri when the game restarted. Both of Haaland’s incidents would have been checked by the VAR.

And Haaland continued the theatre after the final whistle in a seemingly needless and yet oddly entertaining clash with Arteta in which the Arsenal boss seemed as baffled as viewers to be told repeatedly to “stay humble”, which all went to show that there is no contest between two heavyweight teams that cannot be enhanced by a bit of random aggro.

“Stay humble” Haaland is wild for saying this to Arteta 😳 pic.twitter.com/XkU4oCg3Sr
— Football Hub (@FootbalIhub) September 23, 2024

(Top photo: Getty Images)

Related Topics:Arsenal Featured Manchester City premier league

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Sports

Deion Sanders mourns loss of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder: ‘One of my favorites’

Published

3 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Deion Sanders mourns loss of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder: ‘One of my favorites’

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Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Dominiq Ponder died this weekend, the team’s head coach Deion Sanders confirmed on Sunday with a social media post.

“God please comfort the Ponder family, friends and loved ones,” Sanders wrote on social media. “Dom was one of my favorites! He was Loved, Respected & a Born Leader. Let’s pray for all that knew him & had the opportunity to be in his presence. Lord you’re receiving a good 1. Comfort us Lord Comfort us.”

Ponder was 23 years old.

Details of Ponder’s death are not yet known.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his team warm up before an NCAA college football game against TCU Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo)

Ponder, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound signal caller, joined the Buffaloes and “Coach Prime’s” program in 2024 after spending time at Bethune-Cookman before making his way to Boulder.

Last season, Ponder played just two games for the Buffaloes while serving in his backup role. He recorded two rush attempts and one pass attempt.

The Opa Locka, Fla., native also received tribute from a fellow quarterback with the Buffaloes, Colton Allen.

Bethune-Cookman QB Dominiq Ponder takes a snap during the Wildcats’ spring game Saturday, April 22, 2023, at Daytona Stadium. (IMAGN)

“Dom, you were a blessing to so many people,” Allen wrote on Instagram. “You had a presence about you that just made everything better. You brought so much joy to me and everyone around you. I’m grateful for every lift, every practice, every rep, every conversation we got to share. I’ll carry those with me for the rest of my life.”

Ponder was going to be a part of Colorado’s spring practices, which are set to begin on Monday. It’s unknown if Sanders will postpone the start due to Ponder’s passing.

Ponder also received a tribute from the University of Central Florida.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his players warm up before an NCAA college football game against Utah, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (Tyler Tate/AP Photo)

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“Our prayers are with Dominiq and the Ponder family along with all in the Colorado football program,” the university’s football account on X wrote.

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Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.

Sports

No. 2 UCLA women dominate rival USC to finish Big Ten play undefeated

Published

4 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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No. 2 UCLA women dominate rival USC to finish Big Ten play undefeated

Sunday was “Senior Night” for the USC women’s basketball team at Galen Center, but it was the other team’s seniors who stole the show.

Gabriela Jaquez scored 14 points, Kiki Rice had 11 points and four assists and Lauren Betts had 15 rebounds and five assists as UCLA wrapped up the regular season with a 73-50 victory over its rival and finished undefeated in conference play for the first time since going 18-0 in the Pac-10 in 1998-99 under Kathy Olivier.

Having already clinched the regular-season title, UCLA became the first team to navigate the Big Ten schedule without a loss since Maryland in 2014-15.

“These are two elite programs, we knew it would be different tonight, we knew they’d come with fire,” said UCLA coach Cori Close, who improved to 9-4 against the Trojans since counterpart Lindsay Gottlieb started at USC in 2021. “We knew we’d have to do it with our defense, our rebounding and by taking care of the ball.”

It was the Bruins’ 22nd consecutive win, one shy of the record they set last season. Since their lone loss to then-No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, they have won by 20 or more points 17 times.

Ranked second in the nation in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls behind defending national champion Connecticut (30-0), the Bruins earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament in Indianapolis and got a bye into Friday’s quarterfinals.

Charlisse Leger-Walker, nicknamed “X-ray vision” by teammates, equaled her season high with 20 points for the Bruins (28-1, 18-0) while Gianna Kneepkens added 14 points and five assists.

“Anytime we play together we know we can win,” Leger-Walker said. “We did a good job looking into the scout. Every game we just think about going 1-0. People scouting us know that all five players on the court can score the ball.”

UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, controls the ball in front of USC forward Vivian Iwuchukwu during the first half Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA held USC to 27% shooting in the teams’ first meeting — a 34-point Bruins victory at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3 behind Betts’ 18 points. It was USC’s most lopsided loss under coach Lindsay Gottlieb. On Sunday, USC shot 39% and was only three for 19 from three-point range.

“Going undefeated [in conference] is a great step in the right direction towards what we want to accomplish,” said Jaquez, who appreciated the flowers she received before the game from USC. “I love this rivalry. It’s super fun to play against them and it was nice that they honored us too.”

UCLA jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes and carried a 19-11 advantage into the second quarter. The Bruins widened the gap to 18 points by halftime, holding the Trojans scoreless for the last 3:08.

USC (17-12, 9-9) opened the second half on an 11-2 run but gave up 14 second-chance points and allowed 22 offensive rebounds.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice, front, and forward Angela Dugalic celebrate as USC guard Kennedy Smith walks away.

“If we get more possessions than our opponent we’re most likely going to win,” Close said. “We didn’t allow one basket on an out-of-bounds play and they lead the conference in that.”

Freshman guard Jazzy Davidson, USC’s leading scorer, got into early foul trouble but still finished with 12 points. She was held to 10 points on four-for-15 shooting in the first meeting.

“It was a great crowd, we were in the fight but we didn’t rebound or shoot well enough,” Gottlieb said. “We wanted to keep them out of our paint. We swarmed Betts, double-teamed her and got it out of her hands but other people scored.”

Londynn Jones, who spent three seasons in Westwood (playing in 108 straight games) before transferring to USC for her senior year, was held to six points in the team’s first meeting and nine points (on four-of-10 shooting) in the rematch. The Trojans’ other senior, Kara Dunn, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points.

“I love Londynn,” Close said. “We think she looks better in blue, but we love her and I told her that. I appreciate all she gave to our programs.”

Asked if this is the best team she has ever coached, Close had a one-word answer.

“Yes.”

Sports

Israeli national gymnastics team suspends all activities after Iranian counter-attack

Published

15 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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Israeli national gymnastics team suspends all activities after Iranian counter-attack

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Israel’s national gymnastics team has suspended all training and team activities amid the recent Iranian counter-attack on the country following the U.S.-assisted strikes on Iran.

The Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) provided a statement to Fox News Digital announcing the violence has caused “unavoidable disruptions.”

“The current security situation in our region has resulted in unavoidable disruptions to our regular training schedule and has created significant uncertainty regarding the national teams’ professional plans, particularly as we are at the outset of the international season,” the statement read.

“At this time, all training activities have been temporarily suspended, pending approval from the relevant authorities to safely resume operations. Naturally, the suspension of training and the closure of airspace are causing considerable stress and concern. However, the safety and well-being of our gymnasts and professional staff remain our highest priority. We sincerely hope for safer and calmer days ahead, when we can focus solely on sport.”

A source within the team told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the gymnasts have been moving between bomb shelters since Iran’s counterstrikes began.

Israel’s gymnastics team is considered one of nation’s strongest Olympic programs alongside its Judo and sailing teams. The team is only a week removed from a successful trip at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Germany, where the country’s star Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal in floor gymnastics.

Now, the team will have to seek safety until the attacks are over.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has directed all U.S. government employees and their family members to continue to shelter in place either in or near their residences as Iran continues to fire missiles at Israel.

Additionally, the embassy announced that due to the security situation, it would be closed on March 2, and did not give an estimate on when it would be reopening. The closure includes consular sections in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The embassy also said it is “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” It noted that Ben Gurion Airport remains closed and there there are neither commercial nor charter flights operating from the airport.

On Friday, ahead of the launch of Operation Epic Fury, the embassy gave all non-essential workers permission to leave Israel, with reports that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged those looking to leave to do so as soon as possible.

Iranian airstrikes killed at least eight Israelis on Sunday as Tehran’s latest missile barrage landed just miles from Jerusalem.

The strikes landed in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. Initial reports said four people were killed when missiles landed in a residential area on Sunday, but that death toll rose to eight, according to Israel’s national emergency service.

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Iran’s military has carried out counterattacks against Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East after a joint U.S.-Israeli strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.

The strikes also killed several other top Iranian leaders, including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.