Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer react after hearing Arsenal duo Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz both failed to complete a pass against Manchester City
Arsenal were denied their first victory against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium since January 2015 yesterday after a 98th-minute equaliser from John Stones ensured the match ended 2-2.
The Gunners played the whole of the second-half with ten men after Leandro Trossard was sent off in the closing seconds of the first-half, and the visitors have goalkeeper David Raya to thank for some of his great saves.
Arsenal drew level through Riccardo Calafiori before Gabriel Magalhaes put them ahead and was rightly named the man of the match afterwards.
However, another Gunners duo set an unwanted record to become the first outfield players on record (from 2003-04) to play 89+ minutes of a Premier League match and not successfully pass to a teammate.
Neither Jurrien Timber (6 passes) nor Kai Havertz (5 passes) completed any of their passes for Arsenal against Man City, and it left Gary Lineker, Micah Richards and Alan Shearer dumbfounded.
“Do you know the most amazing stats from this game,” Lineker asked on the latest episode of The Rest is Football podcast.
“I don’t know whether you got it. Kai Havertz didn’t complete one pass in 90 minutes. Not one, I mean.”
“Wow,” Shearer replied.
“Not only did Kai Havertz not complete a pass in the game, neither did Timber,” Lineker continued
“Wow. What about that? In 90 minutes.”
Havertz was forced to help defensively after Trossard was sent off, and Timber also had to remain at the back as Arsenal had all their men behind the ball in a bid to defend their lead.
While it came at the cost of their creativity, it almost paid off until Stones left it very late to draw Man City level eight minutes into added time.
A victory would have seen the Gunners move to the top of the Premier League table after five games, but the dropped points have left them in fourth place, two points off the leaders.
Finishing the game with ten players proved costly, just like it did in the draw against Brighton & Hove Albion ahead of the international break, and Arsenal have to start doing better disciplinarily going forward.
