Manchester City beat Arsenal after VAR drama to go 11 points clear at the top
Manchester City scored in stoppage time to sensationally win 2-1 at Arsenal, who had Gabriel Magalhaes sent off during a game-changing and remarkable five minutes of play.
Arsenal took a first-half lead when Bukayo Saka scored his fourth goal in three Premier League games, but they could have been in front earlier had they been awarded a penalty after 10 minutes.
City keeper Ederson appeared to foul Martin Odegaard, but having been checked by VAR, it was decided Edersen had touched the ball and no penalty was given.
The Gunners remained in control of the match until an incredible five minutes of action after half-time.
Bernardo Silva went down in the penalty area under a challenge from Granit Xhaka that was originally waved away by Stuart Attwell but he overturned his decision on the advice of VAR which led to Riyad Mahrez equalising from the spot.
Just 90 seconds later, Nathan Ake made a heroic and unlikely clearance off the line and Gabriel Martinelli somehow failed to score from the rebound. Then the game took another turn when Gabriel Magalhaes picked up a second booking for disrupting a Manchester City counter-attack.
It left Pep Guardiola’s men with 34 minutes to break down the Arsenal 10-men but a goal didn’t look likely until the clock ticked past 90 minutes and Rodri forced home a late winner.
His celebrations in front of the Arsenal end triggered some ugly scenes as bottles were thrown onto the pitch.
The result means City have won 11 games on the spin in the Premier League and puts them 11 points clear of Chelsea, who play Liverpool on Super Sunday.
Man City’s win today means they will end New Year’s Day with an 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League table; in the competition’s history, only Man Utd in 1993-94 and Man City in 2017-18 (both 12 points) had a bigger lead at the end of January 1st in a season.
