Exploring the ‘dark arts’ in Man City v Arsenal

Manchester City’s Kyle Walker and John Stones accused Arsenal of employing ‘dark arts’ as the Gunners tried to see out Sunday’s top-of-the-table Premier League match with 10 men.

BBC Sport’s chief football writer Phil McNulty called Arsenal “streetwise”, while boss Mikel Arteta described their rearguard display in the 2-2 draw – having had Leandro Trossard sent off just before half-time with the Londoners leading 2-1 at Etihad Stadium – as “a miracle”.

City manager Pep Guardiola labelled his side, who snatched a point with a 98th-minute equaliser from substitute Stones, “an honest team”.

He added: “I know what the opponents are going to do. Tactically there is always a way to try to do it. The behaviours we cannot control, don’t go away from what is important.

“It’s difficult to manage, which is why you have to be calm. Don’t make fouls, give rhythm to their game as little as possible. I understand, 10 against 11, [Arsenal goalkeeper David] Raya takes his time, the long balls.

“Sometimes cramp, another cramp, but stay in the game. It’s difficult, we did it really well.”

So what actually happened and why are Arsenal under the spotlight?

Simply put, a player could feign injury to prevent the resumption of play and slow their opponents’ momentum – but it is virtually impossible to prove.

Defender Stones claimed Arsenal were using goalkeeper Raya to allow Arteta to deliver tactical instructions to his team during such breaks in play.

He said: “They get the keeper on the floor so they can get some information on to the pitch.”

Arsenal substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly was booked – before he’d even made his Premier League debut – during a break in play for ‘unsporting behaviour’. That was after the 17-year-old went behind the Arsenal goal and spoke to Raya shortly before he went down for treatment in the 65th minute for cramp. Arteta, subsequently, took the opportunity to speak to his players on the side of the pitch.

During the second half of Sunday’s pulsating encounter, three other Arsenal players went down with cramp as they tried to stem the City attacks with only 10 players.

Defenders Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber were later replaced by Jakub Kiwior and Lewis-Skelly after complaining of cramp.

In the 86th minute, Gabriel Martinelli sat down on the pitch with his leg up, but referee Michael Oliver dismissed his complaints, although the Brazilian forward was replaced by Gabriel Jesus a minute later.

“The reason you can hear a lot of boos is because Michael Oliver is dismissing cramp as an idea for the Arsenal players,” Gary Neville said on Sky Sports.

“Martinelli has gone down on the floor again and he’s told him to ‘get up’. He’s just not having it the referee, he’s not buying it.”

Under Premier League rules, there is no exact time afforded to teams to resume play from goal-kicks and free-kicks.

Instead, referees must decide if ‘excessive’ time is taken by players when resuming play.

During Sunday’s match, Declan Rice was cautioned in the 83rd minute when he took more than one minute to take a free-kick in City’s half following a foul on Kai Havertz.

Raya was regularly booed by the home crowd during the second half, with City fans feeling the Spaniard took too long over goal-kicks.

The 29-year-old was warned by referee Oliver about the time he was taking to restart play in the 32nd minute – but was not cautioned during the match.

Statistics from Opta show Arsenal have spent an average of 33.5 seconds in resuming play this season – the joint-longest in the Premier League.

This relates to restarts from all ‘dead-ball’ situations – goal-kicks, corners, free-kicks, direct free-kicks, throw-ins, penalties, drop-balls and kick-offs.

Only Ligue 1 side Lille and Serie A team Genoa across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues have a higher average restart time than Arsenal.

Specifically on restarting play via a goal-kick, Arteta’s side have taken an average of 40 seconds, longer than any other Premier League club this season.

It is more than double that of rivals Tottenham, who have resumed play from a goal-kick on average after 17.4 seconds so far this term.

Preventing the resumption of play is a slightly different form of time-wasting but also punishable with a yellow card.

The most common form is kicking the ball away and, after midfielder Rice was sent off for a second yellow card against Brighton on 31 August, Arsenal were stung again when Trossard was dismissed for a second yellow for booting the ball away following a foul on Bernardo Silva.

While kicking the ball away is the clearest form of preventing play from resuming, players can also be booked for blocking play.

As City chased a late equaliser, Brazil striker Jesus was booked in the 96th minute when he stopped Portugal midfielder Silva from taking a short corner.

Manchester City threw everything at Arsenal during the second half on Sunday, attempting 28 shots, but they were met by a well-organised unit.

Guardiola’s side tried to keep the game flowing as much as possible against an opponent determined to grind proceedings to a halt.

But former Tottenham, Everton and Luton winger Andros Townsend, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, said that despite Guardiola’s protestations at Arsenal’s tactics, City regularly adopt the same approach.

“Manchester City are also masters of the dark arts,” added Townsend.

“If you have a counter-attack, they will pull you down and take the yellow. Manchester City are complaining this time, but they are also guilty of being involved in the dark arts.

“We marvel about how good they are going forward but teams are also picking up and learning off how they manage games and how they stop the flow of the game also.”