Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji is baffled how Arsenal managed to avoid several ‘clean yellow cards’ during Sunday’s foul-riddled, goalless draw.
After Liverpool climbed to the top on their return to victory over Brighton, the remaining title contenders played out a memorable 0-0 draw with just three shots on course at the Etihad Stadium.
Arsenal seemed happier to have picked up a degree than City, whose frustration was clear when the visitors were spared a yellow card following 20 fouls by referee Anthony Taylor.
The only yellow cards they received were for time-wasting against Gabriel Jesus and David Raya, much to the irritation of defender Akanji.
“I don’t understand,” said a resident of the City. “The one in the first half (Kai Havertz) was a very late tackle on Stefan (Ortega). For me this is an obvious yellow card.
“I don’t want to say ‘only against us.’ There were also a few decisions against them that I didn’t understand and for which he gave a foul.
“There are certain rules and I think where yellow cards should be clearly visible.
“I remember the action with Jorginho when he made a foul in the tackle and then made a second one, and he didn’t even get a yellow card for one foul.
I didn’t understand some of the decisions, but in the end we should still have been able to score.
Akanji said this approach had worked for Arsenal and said: “Definitely. When we moved on, sometimes they stopped us with fouls, and if there was no action involved, it was difficult.
City, third in the table, must shake off frustration as attention quickly turns to Wednesday’s home game against fourth-placed Aston Villa.
Pep Guardiola’s men are unbeaten in all competitions since a 1-0 draw at Villa Park in December and Akanji believes there is everything to fight for in the title race.
“Yeah, I mean, how many games do we have left? Nine, so yes, 27 points to score,” he said. “Our goal is to get them all and then we’ll see how it goes.”
Arsenal may even be back in motion on Wednesday, starting 45 minutes earlier against relegation-threatened Luton.
If they win, the Gunners shall be back at the top of the Premier League as Liverpool only return to motion on Thursday and Jesus is just focused on what they’ll do in the title race.
“It’s the Premier League, a difficult league and anything can happen,” said the former City striker.
“It’s only two points difference [with Liverpool] and then we have a very good goal difference.
Everything counts in the end, but there are still many games ahead of us. We also have the Champions League. This is the most beautiful part of the season, you do everything to win the titles.
Jesus has extensive experience at this stage of the season, having won four Premier League titles with City, where he came into the squad on Sunday and was Arsenal’s best chance in the first half.
“Well, to play important games, sometimes you have to change your body language,” he said. – It’s difficult to come back here and play against them.
“We desired to win and I believe we are able to win. Maybe we played otherwise than usual, but sometimes football is like that. Every game is different.
We had just a few possibilities, we could have scored a goal and possibly won the game, but that is football. We are taking on this issue. To come here and play against them is difficult, difficult.
We got here here last season and we suffer rather a lot, we concede goals after which we make some mistakes. So playing against this team is frequently difficult, and should you make some mistakes, it’s much more (difficult).
“Today was slightly different, we knew from the starting that sooner or later we’d need to suffer a bit (in the game). This is a team that loves football and we like it too, but sometimes it’s difficult.
Credit : www.independent.co.uk
