Manchester City start fast but are left frustrated as Arsenal find a way to finish all square at the Emirates Stadium

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City arrived in north London with the chance to move to within nine points of Premier League leaders Chelsea following Crystal Palace’s shock victory over the table-toppers on Saturday. They left Emirates Stadium with a draw to Arsenal and a missed opportunity.

Arsenal's Francis Coquelin in action with Manchester City's Fernandinho and Raheem Sterling. Manchester City started fast but Arsenal found a way back into the match in the second half to force a 2-2 draw at Emirates Stadium on Sunday. Eddie Keogh / ReutersShow less

London // There have been times this season when everything has clicked and Manchester City have looked like a real force to be reckoned with.

On other occasions, their good work has been undermined by slack defending and an all-round lack of control.

Both sides of City were on show at Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Pep Guardiola's men arrived in north London with the chance to move to within nine points of Premier League leaders Chelsea following Crystal Palace's shock victory over the table-toppers on Saturday.

They began the game as if they meant business, enjoying almost all of the early possession and pinning Arsenal back inside their own half of the field. The travelling supporters did not have to wait long for a tangible reward, either: Leroy Sane, who has been superb since the turn of the year, kept his composure after being found by Kevin de Bruyne in the fifth minute, calmly taking the ball around David Ospina and pushing it into an empty net.

De Bruyne is one of the Premier League’s leading creators – no other player has provided more assists this season than the Belgian’s 11 – and this stunning first-time ball served as another example of his fantastic range of passing.

From an Arsenal perspective, it was far too easy for City to break their structure in the opening exchanges. David Silva continually found space between the lines, successfully evading the attention of Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin, and Sergio Aguero was picked out with rather simple passes in behind.

Given that Arsene Wenger’s side were also wasteful in possession, it was virtually the worst possible start for the beleaguered Frenchman.

ELSEWHERE

But this City team always give opponents a chance, though, and so it proved again here.

Having been surprisingly passive without the ball in the early stages, Arsenal began to press higher up the pitch and immediately enjoyed success by forcing turnovers and disrupting City’s rhythm.

They were back on level terms with 40 minutes on the clock, Theo Walcott prodding home from eight yards after the visitors failed to adequately clear a short corner. The goal certainly reflected Arsenal’s improvement in the second half of the first period, but City had had plenty of chances to double their advantage: De Bruyne struck the post and Silva was denied by Ospina as Guardiola’s men looked dangerous every time they poured forward.

They still had time to get their noses back in front before the interval, though, and Aguero delivered by firing home after being located in space by Silva.

It was an extremely poor goal for Arsenal to concede, as their ragged defensive shape was picked apart by some rather straightforward movement and interplay.

From that position of strength, and with Wenger’s charges low on confidence after a run of only one win in their five previous top-flight encounters, City should have pressed home their advantage and killed the game off.

Instead, their second-half performance was full of sloppy errors and characterised by an absence of control, as they failed to prevent the match descending into chaos.

Arsenal, in truth, were not much better, and rarely threatened after Shkodran Mustafi headed home an equaliser from Mesut Ozil’s corner in the 53rd minute.

There was a startling lack of compactness to their shape throughout Sunday’s encounter, and in many ways they were fortunate not to be punished more often when City broke forward.

“We are not yet comfortable to handle that [situation], when we are winning 1-0,” Guardiola told reporters in his post-match news conference before explaining that Yaya Toure’s introduction at half-time was because he “wanted more passes. Without that, you cannot create anything. It’s just defend and counter-attack.”

The Catalan will be aware improvements are needed before his side are ready to challenge for the title.

City have produced some fantastic football in several fixtures this term, but they remain some way off the teams Guardiola guided in Barcelona and Munich.