Manuel Akanji becomes third Man City star to slam Arsenal 'drama' as he makes title dig
Title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal played out a thrilling draw at the Etihad Stadium, with Manuel Akanji branding Mikel Arteta's side the masters of the dark arts following their time-wasting
by David McDonnell · The MirrorManuel Akanji branded Arsenal the masters of football's 'dark arts' – but claimed it will not be enough to take the title from Manchester City.
Mikel Arteta's side were slammed by City players Bernardo Silva and John Stones for their time-wasting tactics in Sunday's dramatic 2-2 draw. City defender Akanji echoed his team-mates in criticising Arsenal's crude style and claimed Arteta and his players love the “drama” of such an approach.
Asked if Arsenal were the masters of the dark arts, Akanji said: “I don’t think there are many better than them at it. But, in the end, we always won the title and I don't think it's going to be different this year.
“In every duel, every free-kick that was given, they went on the floor. Players go on the floor to get up, sprint back again, go on the floor again, one of their team even went over to tell the keeper to go on the floor and stuff like this.
“I mean, there's nothing we can do about it. In the end, It's up to the referee to control throughout the whole season, to control these situations. But yeah, there's nothing else we can do about it.
“That's what they're looking for. Always when we play against them, that's what they're looking for - the drama, going hard in the duels, defence, 11 players in their own box and then go on set pieces and try to score a goal.
“With the time-wasting, we cannot control this. It's up to the referee to do something. But in the end, it’s obviously hard to score against anyone who has 10 men, with the keeper in their own box.
“It worked for them, so if they're happy with the one point [that's fine]. We're not, we tried to get more, but that's what they're happy with. At the end of the day we're still top of the league. We haven't lost a game yet.
“We tried, especially in the second-half with one man up, but it's hard with 10 players defending in their own box. So we tried our best, we had to keep pushing until the end and luckily, in the end, we scored a goal and got one point.”
Akanji also claimed referee Michael Oliver aided Arsenal in equalising by not allowing City skipper Kyle Walker time to get back into position to defend a free-kick.
“I saw it,” said Akanji. “Kyle and [Bukayo] Saka were called over to talk with him [the referee]. Normally, also on substitutions, when you make one, you wait until the player is back in position. Walks definitely wasn't back in his position and they played the free-kick quickly. They scored a goal out of it, what more should I say?”
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