EPL

Arsenal fined for failing to control players during Man City clash

By Sports Desk January 06, 2022

Arsenal have been fined by the Football Association for failing to control their players' conduct during their 2-1 Premier League defeat to Manchester City.

League leaders City snatched a late winner through Rodri at the Emirates Stadium on New Year's Day, in a match littered with contentious moments.

Arsenal were convinced they should have had a penalty for Ederson's tackle on Martin Odegaard in the first half, while they were then left outraged that a spot-kick was awarded City's way for Granit Xhaka's challenge on Bernardo Silva.

Gabriel Magalhaes was booked for dissent during the aftermath of that decision, with the centre-back then receiving another booking two minutes later for clattering into Gabriel Jesus.

Arsenal's players surrounded referee Stuart Attwell and, for that, the club have been handed an FA fine of £20,000.

An FA statement said Arsenal had "failed to control their players in an orderly fashion".

The Gunners have accepted the fine and admitted the charge, meaning there will be no appeal.

After the game, goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale and assistant coach Albert Stuivenberg, who stood in for the isolating Mikel Arteta, questioned the consistency of the officiating, in particular the use of VAR.

Arsenal's defeat allowed West Ham and Tottenham, who both won, to close the gap to one and two points respectively.

Related items

  • Kleindienst receives maiden Germany call-up Kleindienst receives maiden Germany call-up

    Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann has handed a first call-up to forward Tim Kleindienst in his latest squad.

    Kleindienst scored 12 Bundesliga goals for Heidenheim last season.

    Those goals propelled Heidenheim to an eighth-place finish, and secured Kleindienst a move to Borussia Monchengladbach.

    Since the start of last season, Kleindienst has contested the most duels (622) and made the most sprints (1216) of any player in the Bundesliga.

    The 29-year-old has already netted twice for his new club, and with West Ham's Niclas Fullkrug out injured, Nagelsmann has given Kleindienst the nod for October's Nations League clashes with Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Netherlands. 

    "Kleindienst at Heidenheim performed well over an entire year and he has integrated himself well at his new club Borussia Moenchengladbach," said Nagelsmann.

    "He has earned this. The injury to Fullkrug is a good opportunity to test Tim. He now has to prove himself."

    Marc-Andre ter Stegen's long-term injury, meanwhile, means Oliver Baumann is a likely candidate to start in goal.

    The Hoffenheim goalkeeper will be aged 34 years and 131 days on October 11, when Germany take on Bosnia.

    Should Baumann play, he will become the third-oldest player to make his first appearances for Germany.

    Germany squad in full:

    Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim), Janis Blaswich (Salzburg), Alexander Nubel (Stuttgart); Waldemar Anton (Borussia Dortmund), Benjamin Henrichs (RB Leipzig), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Robin Koch (Eintracht Frankfurt), Maximilian Mittelstadt (Stuttgart), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen); Robert Andrich (Bayer Leverkusen), Chris Fuhrich (VfB Stuttgart), Pascal Gross (Borussia Dortmund), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Alexander Pavlovic (Bayern Munich), Angelo Stiller (VfB Stuttgart), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen); Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Deniz Undav (Stuttgart), Tim Kleindienst (Borussia Monchengladbach).

  • Guardiola has to 'take care' of Man City superstar Haaland Guardiola has to 'take care' of Man City superstar Haaland

    Pep Guardiola took off Erling Haaland against Slovan Bratislava to "take care" of Manchester City's superstar striker.

    Haaland scored in the 58th minute to make it 3-0 to City in Slovakia on Tuesday.

    He was taken off two minutes later, to be replaced by James McAtee, who went on to score his first City goal and round off a 4-0 Champions League rout.

    With focus now switching back to the Premier League, and Saturday's clash with Fulham, Guardiola explained the substitution was made to protect the striker, who has already netted 10 goals in England's top flight this season.

    Asked if Haaland had been frustrated to be taken off, Guardiola told City's media channels: "Erling is never disappointed with his manager.

    "As a manager I am more secure and more happy when Erling is on the pitch.

    "I will keep him on the pitch all the time but at 0-3 the game was almost over and with this amount of games we have to take care of him. 

    "He had a big knock in the last game against Newcastle [United] so that's why, after the fantastic goal with the pass from Rico [Lewis], it was better [to take him off]."

    There was a moment of drama during Fulham's 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest last week, after Raul Jimenez took a penalty off the club's designated taker Andreas Pereira. 

    Jimenez went on to score the penalty, but Marco Silva was not happy.

    He said: "It's clearly the fault of Raul. It is not going to happen again.

    "Has Raul apologised? Yes. He had to because he knows the rules and how important discipline is in our squad."

    City are unbeaten in their last 29 Premier League games (W23 D6), and if they avoid defeat in this match it will equal their longest run without defeat in their league history (30 games between April 2017 and January 2018).

    PLAYERS TO WATCH

    Manchester City - Erling Haaland

    Haaland has scored 60 goals in just 52 games in all competitions at the Etihad Stadium for Man City. He is already the fourth-highest goalscorer at the ground since it opened in 2003.

    Fulham - Andreas Pereira

    Only Everton's Dwight McNeil (21) has created more chances than Pereira in the Premier League this season (20).

    Five of these chances have been for Rodrigo Muniz, who has had more shots on target without scoring so far than any other player in the Premier League this term (five).

    MATCH PREDICTION: MAN CITY WIN

    City have drawn their last two Premier League games despite opening the scoring in both (2-2 v Arsenal, 1-1 v Newcastle). The last time they failed to win three consecutive league games despite scoring first in each was in December/January in 2003-04 (D2 L1).

    Since losing their opening Premier League game of the season 1-0 at Manchester United, Fulham are now unbeaten in their last five (W3 D2). They last had a longer run without defeat in the competition between August and October 2010 (seven).

    Three of Fulham’s four Premier League wins against City have come at the Etihad Stadium (2006, 2008 and 2009). However, they are winless in their last 18 against them in the league (D3 L15), losing each of the last 13 in a row.

    City have won each of their last 16 meetings with Fulham in all competitions, the longest winning run one English league side has had against another in history.

    OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

    Man City - 72.6%

    Fulham - 11.5%

    Draw - 15.9%

  • Guardiola: Lovable McAtee is 'adorable' Guardiola: Lovable McAtee is 'adorable'

    Pep Guardiola quipped that James McAtee is "adorable" after the youngster netted his first Manchester City goal.

    McAtee, who has spent most of the past two seasons on loan at Sheffield United, came on from the bench to score City's fourth in their 4-0 rout of Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday.

    It was McAtee's second appearance in the Champions League, two years and 206 days since his debut in the competition – that is the longest gap between a Man City player's first and second outing in the competition.  

    "We are so happy with him, he's adorable, and all the guys love him," Guardiola said of the 21-year-old City academy graduate.

    "McAtee moved really well in small spaces, made a fantastic goal, had another chance, and for him will be a good boost, we want to make him feel he is part of that group."

    Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring for City in the eighth minute, with Phil Foden netting a second before Erling Haaland made it 3-0.

    "The group of players are fantastic, we played a good game, a lot of chances and the first three points of the competition," said Guardiola, whose team were held to a goalless draw by Inter in their opening match.

    "Win your games it will be enough. We got the first victory to [move up] the table a little bit higher than we were, so it's nice."

    Since his debut in the competition for City in September 2022, Erling Haaland has scored more goals in the Champions League than any other player, netting 19 goals in just 22 appearances for the Citizens.  

    Foden, meanwhile, is one of four players to have scored in each of the last seven Champions League campaigns (since 2018-19) along with Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.

    And Guardiola thought last year's Premier League Player of the Year was much more like himself after a slow start to the season from his perspective.

    "Made a fantastic goal, just passed the ball to the post, always I say 'Pass the ball to the post, not shoot, and you'll have more chances'," Guardiola said.

    "Step by step, it is coming back."

    City are now unbeaten in each of their last 25 Champions League games (W17 D8), the joint-longest run without defeat in European Cup/UEFA Champions history, level with Manchester United between September 2007 and May 2009.

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.