Arsenal 5 Man City 1: Gunners thrash rivals in spiky clash to close gap on Liverpool and give Erling Haaland payback

HUMBLE pie is a dish best served cold – and Erling Haaland was force-fed until he was sick to the stomach at a throbbing Emirates Stadium.

Manchester City’s Norwegian goal machine had told Mikel Arteta to ‘stay humble’ and chucked a ball at the head of Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes after City stole an injury-time equaliser in September.

Myles Lewis-Skelly scores his first goal for Arsenal! 🌟 pic.twitter.com/ctqscXZRet
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 2, 2025

GettyMyles Lewis-Skelly put the cherry on top as Arsenal beat Man City 4-1[/caption]

APMartin Odegaard scored after just three minutes[/caption]

APHaaland equalised early in the second half[/caption]

GettyThomas Partey restored the lead 38 seconds later[/caption]

RexLewis-Skelly added a stunning third for the Gunners[/caption]

GettyKai Havertz made up for a shocking first half miss with a cool fourth[/caption]

GettyHaaland renewed his rivalry with a number of Arsenal stars[/caption]

PAArsenal fans couldn’t resist giving some stick to Haaland after previous comments[/caption]

Here was payback. When Martin Odegaard fired an early opener, Gabriel screamed into Haaland’s face.

When Myles Lewis-Skelly netted a peach of a first senior goal, he aped Haaland’s goal trademark celebration.

And when Kai Havertz netted the fourth in this rout of Pep Guardiola’s fallen champions, tens of thousands of gleeful Gooners sang ‘Haaland’s a c***, ole, ole!”

Haaland actually headed an equaliser early in the second half but Thomas Partey’s deflected shot restored Arsenal’s lead and then they ran riot.

Revenge was sweet for that near-miss at the Etihad, when Arsenal’s ten men had staged the mother of all rearguard efforts to hold on to a 2-1 half-time lead only to be denied at the death.

Haaland’s antics after that last-gap John Stones equaliser have not been forgotten in north London.

And there was no need for any Arsenal humility here, as City were put through the shredder.

Guardiola’s is a team thrown into transition in mid-season, thanks to their shocking pre-Christmas meltdown – there are new players, plenty of suddenly old players and no obvious sense of identity.

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City will struggle to make the Champions League places on this evidence, while Arsenal retain a slim hope of the title – they are six points behind Liverpool, having played a game more than the runaway leaders.

The Gunners are now unbeaten in five meetings with City – having previously held a shocking record against Guardiola’s team.

Arsenal pounce on Manuel Akanji's mistake and Martin Odegaard opens the scoring inside two minutes! 💨 pic.twitter.com/HQSRRnTDGv
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 2, 2025

With Ederson deemed unfit, Stefan Ortega replaced the Brazilian in the City goal – and within 103 seconds, he was fishing the ball from the back of the net.

Manuel Akanji was the fall guy – a sloppy pass intercepted by the alert Leandro Trossard before Declan Rice fed Havertz who squared for Odegaard to apply a simple finish.

It was only the Arsenal skipper’s second Premier League goal of the season and it was first time since 2003 that City had conceded inside three minutes in back-to-back Premier League matches, although they had come back to defeat Chelsea last weekend.

When Odegaard netted Gabriel ran around Haaland and screamed into the Norwegian’s face – clearly not forgetting the City striker hurling a ball at the back of his head after City had rescued a late point at the Etihad in September.

If that was proof that Arsenal were fired up to avenge that near-miss, then the proof kept coming.

Arteta’s men were pressing like a pack of dogs, first into every 50-50, Declan Rice – in particular – tackling with a ravenous intent.

Erling Haaland scores his 250th club goal! 🤖 pic.twitter.com/WU1oCITOQb
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 2, 2025

Gabriel Martinelli soon found the net, lifting a shot over Ortega but even Arsenal’s army of keyboard-warrior conspiracy theorists couldn’t argue against the Brazilian being well offside.

It took some time for City to join but when they did Omar Marmoush, on his second start since a move from Eintracht Frankfurt, fired over from 20 yards.

Then Marmoush delivered the corner from which Josko Gvardiol’s near-post header was pushed onto the bar by David Raya.

But Arsenal should have been 2–0 when Rice performed a mugging on Mateo Kovacic on the edge of the box, only for Havertz to somehow slice his shot wide.

It was an absolute sitter and it might persuade Arsenal’s hierarchy to stick an extra zero onto their £40million bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins ahead of tomorrow’s transfer deadline.

Odegaard started cheerleading manically but the German’s miss looked like a haunting in the making.

Manchester City are level for a matter of seconds before Thomas Partey's deflected shot restores the Gunners' lead! 💥 pic.twitter.com/pbqIPC0Re7
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 2, 2025

City started to play, Phil Foden beginning to pull some strings and shortly before half-time Raya was forced into a smart low stop to keep out Savinho’s deflected shot.

After the break, it all went off.

First the great blond bogeyman Haaland got in front of William Saliba to power a header past Raya, after a delicious turn and cross from Savinho.

Haaland raced to the City fans in the corner of the Clock End and thumped the badge on his chest as Arsenal’s supporters responded with a deluge of invective.

It didn’t matter. Almost immediately, Arsenal were back in front.

It was a criminal stray pass from Foden which picked out Partey. When the Arsenal midfielder let rip, Stones turned and the ball cannoned off his back into the corner of the net, leaving Ortega helpless.

Kai Havertz finishes off a fine counter attack! 🔴 pic.twitter.com/I1aLZUMoqx
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 2, 2025

And six minutes later, the highlight of Arsenal’s afternoon arrived.

Rice fed Lewis-Skelly who advanced past Savinho, shimmied, then curled his shot around Stones – Ortega only able to push it against the inside of the post and in.

Lewis-Skelly celebrated in Haaland style – the classic seated meditation pose – adding insult to the Norwegian’s injury.

Rice stormed forward and fed Martinelli, whose shot was pushed away.

Soon, it was four, Partey releasing Martinelli who fed Havertz to cut inside Stones and steer his shot past Ortega.

In injury-time, Ethan Nwaneri cut inside and thumped home Arsenal’s fifth.

“Erling Haaland, stay humble, you c***” they sang.”

This was utterly brutal for Haaland and the rest of Guardiola’s team.