CITY TOP OF THE LEAGUE! | ARSENAL v MAN CITY | PREMIER LEAGUE

City got awarded a penalty in the second half that was then ruled out because of offside in the build-up. But, my goodness, they responded in the best possible manner. Grealish making it 2-1. And then Haaland, ending a mini-gold rout with his first goal in four games, making it 3-1. And from that moment on, you knew one thing. The champions are back at the top again. Arsenal 1, City 3. A magnificent performance. Well, let's go back to the studio. Natalie, it will be a very different mood to the one I left you with at half-time. It certainly is. Oh, Ali, man, I love your commentary. I'd follow you right into battle, I would. Manchester City are back at the top of the table. And quite frankly, that second-half performance is why we are champions. Magnificent. I'm still joining the studio by Paul Dickoff, Steve Howie and Kolo Toure. Look at the scenes there, Paul. Oh, I love it. And that man, that man, Jack Grealish. I'm so happy for him. Yeah, buzzing for him, buzzing for the whole team. You know, second-half performance. I think we were honest at half-time and said Arsenal were probably slightly the better team in the first half. But City, tactically, with the ball and without the ball in the second half, that's what champions do. You know, when you're up against it, when you're away from home against top teams, they actually need big players to come out with big performances, and everybody did tonight. They really did. Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Diaz, you could just go through. Nathan Ake, the amount of players that had big games tonight, and especially in that second half. The second half in particular, Steve, was just a reminder of what City can do. Yeah, I mean, they've been there, they've seen it, they've done it. Obviously, they've gone through periods of this game, but also in other campaigns where there's kind of backspin against the wall, and then they've managed to come out on top. It just showed that fantastic resilience, the camaraderie amongst them. I think a big turning point, obviously, was Pep changing it up with Mahrez coming off. Didn't probably have one of his best games, but obviously, Ikanji comes on, and then Silva moves further up the pitch. And that just seemed to transform the team a little bit, and looked better going forward. And, of course, ultimately, they had the Jack Realish goal. I think, as Dickie's mentioned, he's been excellent, so we're delighted for him that he's got that goal. A little bit fortunate, it takes a little bit of a nick, but you'll take that all day. I think, you know, both managers looking at it, Pep would be delighted with his team. But I think for Arteta, even though Arsenal's done fantastic this season, I think it's another kind of, do you know what, we're actually a little bit off being champions when you look at the performance that City put on there. Yeah, the change by Pep at the start of the second half was so significant. And I've got to say, Kolo, you called it within about five minutes of the second half. You were saying to me, it's time for Ikanji, needs to bring Ikanji on. Why did you think that that was so important? And how did that change the game? The team needed some stability at one point. And having Bernardo Silva as a left-back, really, today, it was good for the first half. But in the second half, you could see that Arsenal was penetrating in that area a lot and bringing Ikanji in the middle there, bringing some stability at the back. You could see that from that time he came in, the game started to be much more in control. And one thing that, for me, is unbelievable for City now, it shows the character of City. You see a team today, they haven't performed great. This is the first time I see City really struggling in the game. They couldn't control the ball very, very well, even though in the second half they'd done it better. But still, they had this fighting spirit. And Haaland is bringing another dimension to the game. You could see when they were going long, he can hold the ball, he can fight. He fight Gabriel, he won the penalty. Unfortunately, it was disallowed. But that shows that City can win in a different way. Before, we see City, when they struggle with the ball, they were going to lose. But now they can play long and still win the game today. They show that today, and that's really another dimension in the game, really. Yeah, absolutely. And I love to see that when City are able to change it up midway, and you see a different side of them. And that's really what we saw in the second half. So in terms of that second goal for City, the Jack Grealish goal, we really need to talk about Gundogan's involvement in that as well, don't we? We do, and Erling Haaland as well. Colo's touching it there. He's done ever so well to get the ball out of his feet. And I think his physical presence made Gabriel drop off him a little bit, which gave him the chance to play in Gundogan. I think everybody looking at it was thinking Gundogan was going to do his whippy finish, but it was the vision and the way to pass for Jack to come onto. It took a little knick, but I'm delighted for Jack Grealish. He deserved having a big goal in a big game. He got it in the derby, and then obviously we're on to lose the game. But that goal tonight was so important, and he's such an important player for Man City. His performances have been outstanding. And him getting the goal tonight, well, that's just amazing. He's a huge player for us now. And I think for fans of rival teams, Steve, that aren't watching City every week, they might only be looking at Jack Grealish's stats and questioning, but certainly anybody that's watching him on a regular basis knows what he's contributing. But it is, again, like Paul said, wonderful for him to get that big moment. Yeah, I mean, because we all know what a quality player he is. I think Colo touched on it before the game. When he was at Villa, he was basically given free reign to do anything. So he would drop off at the back and pick the ball up. He would go to the left, to the right. He would drop in midfield. Obviously, under Pep, he's got a certain way that Pep wants him to play. And I think initially it was probably a little bit getting used to it and a little bit difficult for him because he had to be a little bit more disciplined. But he seems to be absolutely loving life at the moment. I think Dickie had pointed out he's tracking back as well. He's been absolutely outstanding this season, which is not normally he's 40. But I think when you're a player, or if you look at Jack specifically, you see there's a lot of work that he does that people don't seem to realise what he does, as well as the quality that he shows. And again, as Dickie said, for him to get that goal is absolutely fantastic for him. He's seen how he was acting with the fans when he scored. I was pleading as well, don't take your shirt off because it would have been sent off. And it was lovely to see him after the game as well because he's obviously pointed out a specific fan to give his top two, which is absolutely brilliant. But yeah, absolutely fantastic for him to get that goal. He's a player that when you play against a team who press you that high, like Arsenal have done, Jack is a player who can get the ball, turn and drive the ball. Because he's got great power and he can make it 1-2 or pass to three players with the ball. And that's why he's very, very important. That's why Pep go in, because he knows this is a guy who can penetrate in any defence. Such an important part of our team now. Before we move on to talk about the third goal, Kolo, I want to talk about some of the defending that happened in the game. Specifically, between the second and the third goal, we saw a tackle by Ruben Diaz on Xhaka, in which at the moment after the tackle, Yasuda, like proper, I love the idea of the celebrating of a great tackle. It was such an important moment as well when the game was quite finely balanced. Diaz's tackle there was unbelievable. This is a moment where he's in the box and if you make a mistake, you kick the player's leg, it's a penalty. But he timed out at the right time, touchable at the right time. And it was done time and time again in the game. One thing, people talking about City with the ball, but today City showed how good they are without the ball. You could see like 10 players by the goalkeeper, around the last third defending all together, very disciplined. That's what it takes to be a champion. And it doesn't matter if you are Alan or you are Jack or you are Kundogan, you need to do those hard work. And that's why City are champions. And then I'm really grateful that Steve Howey's prediction came true at the start of the game because I did not fancy those last 10 minutes on 2-1. I couldn't have handled that. Erling Haaland, the idea that he's on some mini goal drought, that was his 26th Premier League goal of the season. Steve is crazy. He's equaled Sergio Aguero's best ever Premier League tally at this point of the season. And what did you make? Give us kind of your thoughts on that third goal, on his goal. It's the touch because actually the ball is kind of cut into them. You know, forwards, they're like kind of in front of them. But the ball, I think he's been caught by surprise actually because it's been pulled back and it's come at some pace. What he's had to do is open his body up and take that ball with his left foot. But that left foot touch to his right foot is absolutely brilliant. Yes, he hits it into the ground but gives the goalkeeper absolutely no hope of saving it. But the touch, if you look at that, I mean, he'll tell you, that's better than the goal because that creates the goal. It's the touch and then the short backlift, how quick. Ramsdale couldn't do anything. Another impressive thing for me is because he's predominantly left-footed, when he takes that touch, I think people are thinking for him to try and take it out of his body. But he's got so much confidence in his finishing ability that it's touch and it's hit before anybody can do anything about it. And that's why he's one of the best strikers in the world. Oh, I loved that. I was so grateful for that, really was. Because you know what I'm like towards the end of games. It's horrible. I was quite grateful as well because I was sitting next to you as you were jumping up and down. No, I was heading hands a minute earlier. Kevin De Bruyne, on that moment, the pass he made, everybody expected to play for Foden. Foden, yeah. Inside the boulder, you see the game differently than anybody. He made that pass. Fantastic goal. Fantastic goal. In terms of a statement, Kolo, obviously Arsenal were top of the league. Manchester City are now top of the league. That's three goals, 3-1 victory for us. What is the kind of psychological victory that City have achieved tonight? It's massive. It's massive because City go momentum now. And then for Arsenal, it's tough. Because you know that you had a few points in front there. You were comfortable and you see City coming and they pass you now. It's like a marathon. You know, you're running with somebody. You're fighting there, up there. And then you see the guy slowly sort of coming, catching you and passing you. You need character to come back. Arsenal, we need some character to come back definitely. But City have the momentum now and it's going to be difficult. How important is that momentum, Steve? I mean, we're only... I forget, do you know how many games we've played because of this weird season? So that was our 23rd game, Arsenal 22. So Arsenal do have the game in hand. We're on the same points now. We're both on 51. They do have a game in hand. You know, we have to say that. I would always say, my dad always taught me to rather have points on the board. But they do have the game in hand. So in terms of that, the importance of the victory tonight, the importance of the psychological win, huge. Yeah, I mean, for me, it's not a title decider because there's still an awful lot of games to go. And we've seen both teams drop points. So it's still possible for both teams still to drop points. But I think as far as... For the City lads to go there and get the win was massive. But I think for them to get the win and be in a dressing room and think, we've won here, we've won here, but we haven't really played that well, that would give them a boost. But as I said, psychologically, for the Arsenal players, they'll be thinking, man, City weren't brilliant today, and yet they still beat us. Even though you can look at the kind of... The Arsenal players, yeah, they had spells, but the difference was just the quality. I think Arsenal have got some fantastic players, but the worrying thing for the Arsenal, even though it's still not over, the Arsenal players is, man, City have come in our backyard, beat us, and they haven't played well. Yeah, I love that point. It's like what Kolo was saying, the different side to City as well. I mean, statistically, Paul, it's crazy in comparison to our usual statistics. In terms of possession, Arsenal 64% of the possession in the game. We only had 36%. However, we had six shots on target tonight. Arsenal had one, which was their penalty. It is, and to go off the back of what the boys were saying, looking ahead to the game in March, the Arsenal game, the Arsenal players will be sitting there and thinking, first half especially, we gave them our best shot. We were on top. And you do, mentally, they might not come out and say it, but you're sitting there in changing rooms now and thinking, and we still lost 3-1. So going forward now, and then I think if, take tonight out of it, I think if we'd beat them tonight at their place, that they hadn't have drawn against Brentford and lost a previous game before that, it might not have been as bad psychologically for them. I think now the fact that they've lost, they've drawn, they've lost again. And I'll say it again, 10 days ago, people were talking about eight points behind by a game in hand. And it was over, if Arsenal win their game in hand, it's going to be 11 points, and it's going to... 11 points now, 10 days later. And that will play in their minds as well. I just thought, with the ball, second half, we're much better, but defensively as a unit, from the front to the back, I thought we're just outstanding tonight. And we do have, we are safe in the knowledge as well, that we know what it's like both to lead a Premier League and hold on to the lead, and we know what it's like to be behind and to come back. Whereas as Kola was saying, Arsenal don't have that, certainly that recent experience, that goes in our favour as well. Absolutely, that's why I always felt, and there's still a long way to go, that at some point City would catch Arsenal. Because they've done it before, and they know not to panic in that situation. And as we've seen tonight, when they're not at their best, which for me is the biggest thing out of tonight, they manage to find a way to win the game. Yes, I love that. We did say that at half-time as well, we were saying that City hadn't, we hadn't been in the first half, we hadn't had a period. And then in the second half, we were able to switch it on Kola. And I, as a fan, I always feel kind of secure because I think, well, we'll switch it on in a minute. We'll switch it on in a minute. When we switch it on, we'll be fine. And we did that in the second half. Absolutely, absolutely. City came back in front foot really in the second half. They came, they tried to control the ball again. For the first 10 minutes, they controlled the game very, very well. Arsenal dropped a little bit, and then Arsenal came on top again. But again, like I said, you know, City have different tools. You know, they can build the game with passes. They can go long now, you know, with Alan in front. And that's massive. That's what you were talking about, the invincible with Arsenal. That's what we had. You know, we could play the ball, but when the ball, the game was tough for us, we could change the gear and play another style of football and still manage to get a result. And that's what City have done again tonight. And the games are going to start coming thick and fast again. We play on Saturday, 3pm, Steve. Love a Saturday 3pm. They feel so rare these days. We've got Forrest away. Forrest, who I just had to double check there as I was thinking, where are they in the table? They're actually kind of 14th in the table. Fairly decent season for them. What have you made of Forrest? Obviously, first season back in the Premier League. Obviously made a lot of signings. Me and Dee were just talking about it. I do like the manager, you know, because he's come in there, he's getting them up. There has been a lot of signings. It is difficult for a manager to try and get a settled team. But they seem to have turned it around. They've picked up some decent results. I think for them, for Forrest, it's massively important for them to get points on the board from the home fixtures. I think the atmosphere at the ground on Saturday will be electric because, obviously, it's the first time back in the Premier League for a long, long time. The champions are coming there. It'll be a fantastic atmosphere. And it'll be a game that I'm sure Cooper, the manager, will be looking forward to and he'll be seeing his players. This is why he wanted to work so hard week in, week out to play these games. Go and enjoy it. You know, play without fear. I think that's probably the thing which you would look at from a City's point of view. You'd be sort of saying to your players, listen, these feel as though this could be a free hit, so they're just going to play with confidence, they're going to play with freedom. But if City have the professional heads-on, which 100% they will have, I can't say there'll be anything forgotten for us. But at the same time, I'm actually going to the game and I'm really looking forward to it. I was looking forward to this one, I'm looking forward to Saturday as well. I think it'll be excellent. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it as well, to see... I'll be here in the studio for Matchday Live, but to see City at Forest again, such a historic club to be playing there again. In terms of follow-up from this Arsenal game, it's the first of five away games, today was the first of five away games, but we're away again at Forest, then we're away at Leipzig, then we're away at Bournemouth, then we're away at Bristol. How do we ensure that we pace ourselves throughout that number of away games, going from Arsenal on Wednesday night to Forest on Saturday? The players are used to it. It's been drilled into them since Pip came in. If you listen to... I'll guarantee you Pip tonight, the players, whoever come out and do the interviews, what's seen the change in them, they're only always thinking about the next game. The Leipzig game, Champions League, won't be coming into their mind at the minute at all. The Bournemouth game, the Bristol City game, they'll take care of itself. The main thing they have to do is take care of Forest on Saturday. You look at the bench tonight, Pip could make four, five, six changes and the team's probably just as strong as the one that played tonight because the players that are in the squad know that every one of them is going to be needed. So whenever they come in, they will perform to that top level. Do you think you will make any changes to Saturday? It's starting to feel like, for me, we've made a lot of changes, tactically, formationally, throughout the season. It feels to me like we're starting to find our genuine best 11, which obviously is very difficult with our squad. So are you expecting any changes for the Forest game? Yeah, I think there will be. Look at Ruben Diaz tonight, he's been out for a long time, got 45 minutes Saturday. Tough, brilliant 90 minutes from tonight, physically and mentally. But then you've got Akanjo, who came on tonight. You've got Laporte, who can come in, who's there tonight. The young Rico Lewis, who's been sensational, he can come in. So there's so many different things. Phil Foden got more minutes tonight after being out injured. Riyad came off, got a rest. So the squad is fantastic. If he needs to make three, four, five changes, and we've seen it so many times before, the one thing you cannot do before every game is call a Pep Guardiola team, because the quality in the squad is that good. Is it difficult, Kolo, when there is the Champions League game, the following game, so away on Wednesday at Leipzig, obviously had the big game tonight, got the game against Forest on Saturday. Is it difficult to not look past the Forest game in terms of the Champions League? Or as a player, as a manager, and as a coach, are you just completely focused on your next game? Focus on the next game, and the players, they know, you know, City is a team who want to win every single game, in every single cup. And the players, they never rest. They are machines. You know, they're there to win every single game. And, you know, Pep will start preparing that game from tonight, I'm sure. On the way home? Exactly, on the way home. And the players in their mind, tonight, nice rest, enjoy the game. It was another game. Let's go for the next one, because it doesn't matter if you don't do well tonight, if you don't do well in the next game, you know, you kill everything, really. You know, but these boys are prepared in their mind. And, yeah, when you play for the big clubs, that's the way you are as a player. Nicola, I want to ask you about towards the end of the victory there, we heard an audible chant coming from the City fans, the away fans at the Emirates. We heard them. They were singing your song, yours and Yaya's song. How does it feel that the fans on memorable, on big wins, on occasions like this, they're still singing your song? It's special. It's special, and it's an honour for me and my brother, you know, to be able to be recognised in such a big club like Man City for what, for the little we are bringing, really, to that football club, and it's incredible. And we can't thank them enough, really. You know, every time I hear that, so happy, honestly. It brings back a flood of memories as well. I love it. I love it. And I think it's always a testament to the fans and to the club in general that we never forget here. So, Paul, did we learn anything new tonight, or are we just starting to... Are we learning anything new, or are we just remembering? We're just remembering. Look, I don't think you're learning anything new. I think what we've seen tonight is just reiterated. I talk about it all the time. When people see Man City, they talk about how fantastic they are on the ball. You don't see how hard they work off the ball a lot of the time, and, you know, for me, that's what the best teams, the best players in the world work the hardest, the best teams work the hardest, and then they play their football, and I think we've seen that again tonight. I've just got a couple of quick WhatsApp questions I just want to run through, Carlo, because you've got absolutely so many, and I'm sort of conscious that I didn't get through very many of them because we've been talking too much, so I'll just fly through a few of the questions that came in. Absolutely. So, hello, I'm Iroga. I hope I got that right, from Kenya, and he asks, what's your most memorable Premier League moment during your time as a player? Wow. I bet there's a few. Yeah, absolutely. There is so many, but I would say when we won the... We've been champion with Arsenal in Tottenham. It was in the ground of White Hart Lane. We won the game there. It was fantastic. It was a great moment. We had a great celebration after, and that was before the end of the season, really, and for me, that was my first season, really, in the Premier League, really. It was fantastic. And a derby. I bet the atmosphere was... Incredible. ...was something that day. Odo says, and it's following on, Colo, do you have your song on your favourite playlist, and how often do you listen to your song? It's his ringtone. Yes. I love all the songs that I've been lucky to have in clubs, but, of course, the Man City one is really the one who stand out, really, because it's with my brother as well. And then Liam would like to know, and this is a tough one, I pre-warned you about this one so you had time to think, who's the best African player to ever play in the Premier League? Easy one. That's a tough question. That's a tough question, really, because... Present company excluded, obviously. Sorry? You can't include yourself in that. Oh, yeah. You could pick your brother if you want. I don't think I was going to be the one, but it's between Yahya and Drogba, I would say, but for me, Yahya had everything, because he could play any position, he had the vision, he could score goals as a midfielder, he could play as a centre-back, he could play as a midfielder, and he's my brother. I love that. Thank you, Kola, for coming on the show. It's been a real pleasure, and I do hope that you'll come back at another time. Absolutely, it's been a pleasure for me to be with you guys there. It was a great, great time, definitely. Thank you so much. Steve, thank you, as always. Pleasure, thank you. How's your fantasy team doing, by the way? Rubbish. Although tonight it's actually helped me with a couple of points, but every week my point tally is quite low. Triple captain... Yes, and de Broglie as well, so a few points, but I still think I'm second bottom, aren't I, in our league? I can't even have a look. I've dropped a million places in the last two weeks. I've had the worst two weeks ever. We're doing the FPL show on Friday, and I'm sure FG's going to enjoy whatever massive lead he's got on me now. Paul, thank you, as always. Pleasure, as always. Thank you, and no doubt we'll either be hearing about you in a press conference, seeing you on a banner, or having you back here. Or on a plane. Or on a plane, yeah. Somewhere around the world, Paul Dickhoff pops up absolutely everywhere. Thank you so much for joining us. Pleasure. And thank you all for watching Matchday Live this evening. What a second half. What a victory. Manchester City have gone back to the top of the Premier League, and that second half performance is why we are champions. We'll be back on Saturday. I'm joined by Nader Manoua and Martin O'Neill makes his debut on Matchday Live. I love it when we get new people. I love it when we have old people as well, by the way. Oh, no! Somebody take that tool off, will you? Okay, should have just finished when I was ahead like two minutes ago. Join us on Saturday. Really looking forward to it. Colo! Colo, colo! Touré! Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see you on Saturday. We had a training session, and we were one-on-one against the left-back at the time. I won't mention his name. And he was doing, you know, the usual step-overs, and he's megged the defender and gone past him, and everyone just stopped training and has gone, ooh. Andala. Can he find an opening? Still Andala. That is absolutely magnificent. Against Moina. Can he place it in field? De Bruyne. Haaland! 1-0! To Boney Shaw, and an even better pass from Haaland. That's a beautiful goal. For both these clubs. What is... He's won the tie here for Manchester City. That has to go down as one of the great FA Cup ties in the history of the competition.