Arsenal 1 – 1 Man City

September 21, 2025

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Gabriel Martinelli came off the bench and scored a 93rd-minute equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw for Arsenal against Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.

City appeared to be on the brink of victory thanks to Erling Haaland’s brilliant breakaway goal in the ninth minute but Martinelli looped a superb finish over Gianluigi Donnarumma after latching onto Eberechi Eze’s pass to spark wild celebrations.

It came five days after the Brazilian made a similarly important impact from the bench in Arsenal’s win over Athletic Club, when he scored one goal and set up the other. His strike also bore similarities to his winner as a substitute against City in October 2023.

The goal ensured Arsenal are five points behind leaders Liverpool, rather than six, and came after they had struggled to carve out chances for long periods despite City having just 32.8 per cent possession, a record-low for a Pep Guardiola team.

Haaland’s goal, when he started and finished a devastating counter after combining with Tijjani Reijnders, made it three in as many games for the striker against Arsenal and 19 in his last 15 appearances in all competitions. It also gave City a vital foothold.

Arsenal’s only real chance of a poor first half came when Noni Madueke forced a near-post save from Donnarumma but they improved with the half-time introductions of Eze and the returning Bukayo Saka, who replaced Mikel Merino and Madueke.

Eze went close to a leveller soon after coming on, forcing a sharp save from Donnarumma with a rasping drive, but City looked comfortable after weathering that period of Arsenal pressure.

Guardiola took the uncharacteristic step of moving to a back five after introducing Nathan Ake for Phil Foden and it seemed they were going to secure a win to put them level on points with the Gunners. But Martinelli had the final say – and not for the first time.

Rice: Martinelli always delivers in big moments

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice told Sky Sports: “Since I’ve come to the club, even before I’ve come, he [Martinelli] has always delivered in big moments. The amount of times he’s scoring in big games for us.

“A lot of players can talk if they get put on the bench but every time he comes in, he shows his desire.

“The run and finish – it’s unbelievable at that stage of the game. To have that composure, he really deserves it.

“So even though we didn’t win, I thought we finally deserved it because we dominated today and played really, really well.

“We just couldn’t break them down. Fair play to them. But Martinelli, he’s come on and produced a moment of magic. So we’re happy with that.”

Carra: Lack of creativity a worry for Arsenal

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher said:

“I can understand where Rice is coming from, when you dominate a title rival as much as they did, you are pleased about that in some ways. That is not normal to see a game like that so one-sided in terms of territory and possession.

“But for me, I cannot get away from the fact Arsenal do not look like scoring a goal in open play and I felt that at Man Utd in the first game and at Anfield and today – credit to them as they found a way, they had lots of set-pieces, but did not look as dangerous on them today, but this still has to be a worry for Arsenal.

“I think this season from Arsenal in their five games from open play, their xG is about three, they did not really look like scoring at all and that is still a problem they had last season and it still looks in these first five games they still have it.”

Arteta’s unbeaten run vs Pep – Opta stats

Mikel Arteta is the first manager to avoid defeat in five consecutive league games against Pep Guardiola, with his Arsenal side winning twice and drawing the other three across their last five Premier League meetings with City.
Manchester City have won just seven points from their opening five Premier League matches (W2 D1 L2), their worst return after five league games of a campaign since 2006/07 under Stuart Pearce.
Manchester City recorded their lowest ever possession average by a Pep Guardiola team in a top-flight league match. The two lowest have both been in games away to Arsenal in the Premier League (32.8 per cent today, 36.5 per cent in March 2023).
Brighton (24) are the only Premier League team to score more goals via substitutes than Arsenal (20) across all competitions since the start of last season.
Erling Haaland has either scored (five) or assisted (two) seven of Man City’s last nine Premier League goals against Arsenal. Only Son Heung-Min (10) has been directly involved in more league goals against the Gunners under Mikel Arteta than Haaland’s seven.