Arsenal vs Manchester City on New Year’s Day was one of the best games of the 2021/22 Premier League season so far.
The Gunners played very well and went toe-to-toe with the champions, before losing to a 93rd-minute Rodri winner.
But it was not all great football. Such was the speed and intensity of the match, a few mistakes were inevitable.
And we witnessed two glaring errors within five seconds of each other during the second half. Sandwiched in-between was one of the finest pieces of defending you are likely to see.
Error number one came courtesy of Aymeric Laporte with the clock showing 57.35. Laporte made a real mess of a headed back-pass, which resulted in the ball looping over the head of goalkeeper Ederson and spinning towards City’s net.
Step forward Nathan Ake, who did incredibly well to cover by racing back to the goal-line and sliding the ball clear just before it crossed. Ake’s intervention was one of the plays of the season so far.
But it was followed by arguably the miss of the season so far by Arsenal attacker Gabriel Martinelli.
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