LONDON -- Three thoughts on Arsenal and Manchester City's 2-2 draw in the Premier League.
1. End-to-end game ends all square
Was this the springboard for a change in fortune, or the continued slow fade toward a sad end for Arsene Wenger?
Arsenal supporters may hold different views about a 2-2 draw that keeps them in contention for the top four, but their team deserved this point against a Manchester City side that became careless in a game they should have won. Theo Walcott and Shkodran Mustafi equalised goals at either end of the first half by Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero, and by the end, a potentially combustible mood had softened to a ripple of applause from the home fans.
City were given the perfect start five minutes into a game that started at a blistering pace; it all seemed so simple as Kevin De Bruyne, returning a Mustafi header with a first-time pass from well inside his own half, sent Sane scampering into the space where the Arsenal centre-back should have been. The German international rounded David Ospina and finished from an angle for his eighth goal of the season.
Arsenal's nerves were palpable and they could have been two down within minutes when De Bruyne, irrepressible early on, weighted a 20-yard effort against the post and Ospina smartly saved David Silva's follow-up.
It was a torrid opening 15 minutes, but Arsenal sharpened up, as they had to. Mesut Ozil turned smartly and saw a close-range shot saved by City goalkeeper Willy Caballero, and Alexis Sanchez, increasingly involved, curled narrowly off target on the half-hour.
Five minutes before half-time, Walcott reacted quickest to a Hector Bellerin header, got the better of Gael Clichy and stabbed in an equaliser. Perhaps what followed was little surprise: De Bruyne hit the upright again seconds after the restart, and with the ball still alive, Silva eventually fed Aguero to finish superbly from the right of the penalty area.
But once again, City failed to push on. Eight minutes after half-time they conceded another relatively straightforward goal, as Mustafi made amends by beating Nicolas Otamendi to an Ozil corner and heading across and beyond Caballero.
The volume turned up several notches, but it would be Ospina, saving from Fernandinho and Aguero, who remained the busier goalkeeper. Eleven minutes from full-time, Ozil squandered an opening after the shaky Otamendi fluffed an attempted backpass. Silva shot wide and Arsenal substitute Alex Iwobi drove over, but the spoils were fairly shared.
2. Arsenal scrap to claim a point
This was not quite the result Wenger needed to calm the storm around his future, but it certainly dampened ideas of rebellion inside the Emirates. The atmosphere remained supportive throughout the game, although nobody could say that the Gunners' fans do not vary their methods of protest.
At West Bromwich Albion two weeks ago, an aeroplane trailing a banner calling for Wenger's dismissal circled above The Hawthorns; this time, pedestrians approaching the stadium encountered a specially repurposed van expressing a similar sentiment.
Arsenal players could not be accused of not performing for their manager. Quality may have been lacking in key areas of the pitch, but the hosts stayed in the game by turning it into a scrap, disrupting City's rhythm and forcing the kinds of defensive errors that have blighted them for much of the season.
Wenger's side were technically inferior but eked out a point through persistence and sensing their opponents were only sporadically at full throttle. It was a day for restoring pride by any means, but the broad picture is that Arsenal still need to be far better.
The midfield pair of Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin improved after half-time, responding well to Pep Guardiola's introduction of Yaya Toure, but their use of the ball was too often careless and -- in a running theme this season -- both were booked. Further forward there was little cohesion despite Ozil's inclusion; Arsenal enjoyed many of their best moments when utilizing the speed of Walcott and Danny Welbeck.
The outcome was an afternoon that proved little and solved even less, but Arsenal have an inviting run of games ahead -- starting with West Ham at home on Wednesday -- and will see this as the first building block of a revival.
3. Two points dropped for Man City
City's improved league form continues, but they remain an exasperating proposition at times. They have not lost domestically since a 4-0 defeat at Everton on Jan. 15 but may live to rue this missed opportunity to go third.
Had they continued to set about Arsenal as they did in the opening stages, City could have been home and dry by half-time; instead they let winning positions slip not once but twice, both through sloppy concessions. That said, their difficulties were not limited to individual errors.
Perhaps it was psychological, with Arsenal looking toothless at 1-0 down, but Guardiola's players appeared to switch off after the 15-minute mark. The urgency that had seen them tear into the hosts dissolved and, with such an attacking starting lineup, attempting to sit on the lead seemed a risky policy.
They were duly punished by Walcott and, although Mustafi's later goal could not be attributed to similar malaise, it still spoke of a persistent defensive sloppiness that will have to be addressed ahead of next season.
Moreover, while City had half-chances to win the game and remained the more threatening side, they lacked the brio shown from the first whistle, and questions remain about their best balance Guardiola has at his disposal. Nevertheless, there were positives.
A selection curveball had seen Jesus Navas brought in for Toure and promptly deployed at right-back, which seemed risky when Navas was booked early on. But he recovered and did the job that, presumably, had been asked of him: making use of a lack of genuine width on Arsenal's left side by bombing forward to support attacks frequently.
It could prove an experiment worth repeating: Two pinpoint second-half crosses by Navas for Aguero might have brought better results. In the end, though, City got the one their inattention deserved.
