Still no sign of the managers, so I’m going to wrap things up. We’ll have more reaction later; in the meantime here’s Dave Hytner’s match report. Ta-ra.

The second half stats

• Shots 28-1

• Passes in opposition half 363-35

• Possession percentage 88-12

We’ll keep the blog running for a bit, mainly to hear Mikel Arteta’s interview. If Newcastle last season was desgracia, goodness knows what he’ll make of this.

(From memory the only clearly incorrect decision was to let Doku off when he kicked the ball away, but as a neutral I would say that.)

On Sky Sports, Roy Keane is now kicking off with Micah Richards. He spent about 90 seconds praising Gabriel and William Saliba, at which point Keane snapped: “They still conceded two goals.”

Arsenal will be unhappy that Stones scored in the eighth of seven added minutes, though it’s fairly common for extra time to be added on. That said, their defensive performance in the second half was so impressive.

Jack Grealish deserves a lot of credit, because he beat White on the outside to win the corner that led to the goal, then took it very quickly. City were bizarrely reluctant to go at people in wide positions.

Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta embrace at the final whistle. But that’s about the only bit of warmth between the teams. Pep is now giving the fourth official a mouthful, Erling Haaland and Gabriel Jesus look like they’re about to kick off.

90+10 min Right, first things first: the goal has been given. Arsenal kicked off, in the football sense, at which point Haaland ran straight into somebody and flattened them. He’s booked. This is exhilaratingly weird.

This rivalry, which was very respectful until now, has completely exploded.

VAR check! For multiple offsides. Meanwhile, it’s kicking off on the pitch!

Grealish did really well, running Ben White to win a corner which he then took quickly. It was given back to Grealish, who poked it back to Kovacic on the edge of the area. His shot was desperately blocked, either by Raya or a defender, and Stones forced the loose ball through the diving Raya and into the roof of the net.

Apparently it kicked off between the benches after the goal as well.

90+7 min A short backheader almost falls for Havertz, who seems to follow through into Ederson. No matter, Ederson didn’t make anything of it and City are attacking again.

90+6 min Bernardo’s slightly tame corner is claimed superbly by Raya, who is congratulated by like a goalscorer. He has looked so assured today.

90+6 min Gabriel Jesus is booked for stopping City from taking a corner, although he didn’t know much about it because he was on all fours.

90+4 min City have had 24 shots in the second half. I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how many Arsenal have had.

90+3 min Haaland heads straight at Raya from 12 yards. City look broken.

90+2 min: Arsenal substitution Jurrien Timber, who was outstanding, is replaced by the 17-year-old Miles Lewis-Skelly. For his debut.

90+1 min “Arsenal are demonstrating… I think the word ends in ‘housery’,” says Gary Neville.

90+1 min Bernardo Silva is booked for dissent.

90 min Timber goes down with cramp. Raya tries to kick the ball out and doesn’t reach touch, and now the Arsenal physio has run on the field!

There will be seven minutes of added time, at least.

89 min A decent shot from Dias is blocked, then Haaland can only force a tame shot through to Raya. He was under all sorts of pressure from Arsenal’s back 17.

88 min: Arsenal substitution Gabriel Jesus for Gabriel Martinelli.

87 min: Very good save by Raya! After a bit of head tennis in the Arsenal area, Gvardiol cracks an excellent first-time volley from the edge of the area. Raya gets down so smartly to his right to push it away.

85 min Bernardo Silva slaloms infield and tees up Dias, who smashes miles over the bar from 25 yards. He came out for the second half labouring under the misapprehension that his name is Arie Haan.

Martinelli was down, apparently with cramp, but Michael Oliver thought he was trying it on and allowed play to continue.

84 min Raya charges off his line to claim Akanji’s cross with ease. City don’t look like scoring; they haven’t created anything of note since the 62nd minute.

83 min Arsenal will go top if they hold on, which would give the victory even greater symbolism. City’s last defeat at home was against Brentford in November 2022.

Rice is booked for timewasting.

81 min Dias tries a quick pass into the area for Kovacic, but there’s no eye in the Arsenal needle. There isn’t even a needle.

It’s surprising how little City have tried to get round the back in wide positions. They just keep passing it back and forth before someone blooters over the bar from 25 yards.

That said, Arsenal’s defending has been outstanding: the determination, the concentration, the whole shebang.

79 min Now Kovacic swishes over the bar from 25 yards. What are City up to? That’s their 14th shot from outside the box in the second half alone.

79 min: Double substitution for City John Stones and Jack Grealish replace Kyle Walker and Savinho. That may mean a switch to 3-2-2-3 with Stones in midfield alongside Kovacic.

78 min Gundogan feeds a pass into Haaland, who has just enough space to turn and rifle a drive from 15 yards that is blocked.

Moments later, Foden slithers into the area and shoots high and wide from a tight angle. They’ve picked some poor options in the second half.

76 min Another long-range from Dias is easily saved by Raya. Not really sure what that’s all about. City’s defenders – only the defenders – have had at least six long-range shots in the second half.

76 min “If Arsenal do go on to win this,” begins Eagle Brosi, “Arteta should walk into the press conference and call himself ‘The Special One.’”

Or stroll into it wearing an Inter Milan 2009-10 away kit.

75 min All of a sudden Arsenal find themselves 15 minutes away from a famous victory. In the circumstances they have managed this second half extremely well.

74 min: Arsenal substitution Kiwior on, Calafiori off.

73 min Calafiori goes down. The home fans think he’s wasting time but Jakub Kiwior is getting ready to replace him.

72 min Another long-range from Dias takes a deflection – that must be what City are playing for – but bounces gently through to Raya.

72 min “Myles Lewis-Skelly has now got more yellow cards than minutes in the Prem, which is a statistic anyone should be proud of,” says Matthew Richman.

That’s going in The Knowledge this week.

71 min Arsenal send everyone forward for the free-kick, which almost leads to a chance for Calafiori. His touch is too heavy but City can’t take advantage and break while Arsenal are short at the back.

70 min Dias commits a silly foul on Havertz, which allows Arsenal to waste 45 seconds in the City half.

69 min: Man City substitution Now Savinho whistles a shot over the bar from 25 yards. Before the goalkick is taken, Phil Foden replaces Jeremy Doku. I’m surprised we haven’t seen Rico Lewis come on for one of the back four. What do I know?

67 min Timber, who has had an extremely good game, makes a risky but ultimately good sliding tackle on Doku just inside the penalty area. Michael Oliver points to the ball, and on we go.

City, for all their pressure, have only drawn one really difficult save from David Raya since half-time.

66 min “A referee doing their job properly is making the best calls possible based on what is seen in the moment,” says Eric Peterson. “Period. I’m not so naive to think this hasn’t always been a part of the game, but I am frustrated at how far we’ve come with players treating a first caution as a commodity, a free hit, a mulligan, rather than the warning it’s meant to be. If a player is going to manage how they play the game in this manner, then they have to be prepared to be an adult and accept the risks, including the consequences of that strategy backfiring on them.”

That ship sailed a long time ago, sadly.

64 min City’s bench options include Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis. No sign of any of them coming on just yet.

Meanwhile, David Raya has decided to have a sit down, which allows both managers to give an impromptu team talk. How do you prove he’s cheating?

While Raya receives treatment, Michael Oliver books one of the Arsenal substitutes, possibly Myles Lewis-Skelly.

63 min At time Arsenal’s shape is closer to 6-3-0, with Martinelli as the left-back as Calafiori as a fourth centre-half. One thing’s for sure: Erling Haaland won’t be charging through any gaps like he did for the opening goal.

62 min David Raya makes another save. A corner is only half cleared, and Gvardiol raps a snapshot from 12 yards. It’s at Raya’s feet but he still gets down to knock the ball up in the air and then grab it at the second attempt.

61 min “If only,” says Niall Mullen, “there was some part of the process of a player kicking the ball away and getting booked for it that was in the player’s control.”

60 min Passes in the opposition half since the break: Manchester City 114-2 Arsenal.

All Arsenal care about is what happens when you take away the 1 and the 4.

59 min: Good save by Raya! City take a short corner on the right. Walker flips a cross beyond the far post, where Haaland leaps miles above Saliba to power a header back across goal. Raya changes direction to paw it away, an excellent save, and then the off-balance Bernardo Silva shoots over the bar.

58 min A stinging shot from Walker, 20 yards out, is beaten away by Raya. This is a fascinating gamble from Mikel Arteta. He hasn’t just parked the bus, he’s taken the engine out and put it on eBay.

57 min Doku wins a corner and takes it quickly. It’s half cleared to Akanji, whose shot deflects behind for another.

56 min Arsenal are defending so deep, with five across the line of the penalty spot and four more on the edge of the area.

55 min “Mid-Wenger Arsenal were pretty good at playing with 10 men too,” says Angus Chisholm. “Remember the 3 - 2 comeback against Bolton?”

I do now! The first seven or eight years, though, they had an insanely good record.

54 min Dias blooters wide from 25 yards. Arsenal will be very happy if City are reduced to efforts like that. They’ve barely had a kick since half-time but, crucially, David Raya has barely had a touch.

52 min They don’t. Bernardo Silva’s free-kick is overhit.

51 min Calafiori trips Savinho just outside the area on the right. Michael Oliver doesn’t give it, then changes his mind after the assistant puts his flag up. Arsenal will be thrilled if City equalise from this.

51 min As a neutral I think there’s something quite admirable about Mikel Arteta’s unashamed pragmatism. When he first took over at Arsenal I assumed he was just another new-age romantic, but he couldn’t care less about going to 5-4-0 and wasting as much time as possible.

50 min “I understand the argument against being more lenient when a player is on a yellow, that the rules should be applied consistently without eye to context,” says Zach Neeley. “But for both these Arsenal reds, it seems like the rule is more lenient if you aren’t on a yellow but if you are, they have to give you a second, and that makes the least sense to me.”

Weren’t they just mistakes rather than inconsistent application of the law?

49 min Now Kovacic shoots over from 22 yards after a cutback from Bernardo Silva. It bounced up awkwardly.

48 min Walker pings a flat cross towards the far post, where Haaland gets above Saliba and heads straight at Raya. Saliba did well to ensure Haaland couldn’t get a run at the ball.

47 min These are the revised line-ups for what is likely to be an extended training session: City attack v Arsenal defence.

Manchester City (4-1-2-3) Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic Bernardo, Gundogan; Savinho, Haaland, Doku.

Arsenal (5-4-0) Raya; Timber, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Havertz, Partey, Rice, Martinelli.

46 min Arsenal begin the second half. White has gone to play as the right centre-back in what is essentially a 5-4-0 formation. Havertz is playing from the right, Martinelli is on the left.

Half-time substitution Arsenal are bringing on Ben White for… Bukayo Saka. Interesting. It looks like a back five straight from the off.

A few of you have suggested Michael Oliver didn’t have to send Trossard off. Isn’t it a pretty clear edict? If Oliver doesn’t book him, he gets marked down, loses his job and by 2025 he’s working as a barista in Whitstable.

That said, we’ve just seen footage of Doku kicking the ball away seconds before Trossard’s first yellow card. Arsenal will understandably be aggrieved about that.

“Arsenal need to channel the early Wenger-era sides,” says Tanay Padhi, “who were masters of playing with a man down.”

They were amazing, weren’t they? Who knows, maybe this will be their Anfield 2001.

Half-time reading

“Astounding, incomprehensible stupidity from Trossard,” says Charles Antaki, and he’s an Arsenal fan. “The only explanation is that his water bottle was contaminated with lead, which is known to reduce IQ by significant percentage points. He seems to have somehow managed to drink several gallons of it over the course of the first half.”

“There were nearly ten seconds between the referee having a word and the free kick being taken,” says Will Vignoles. “You’d think a defender of Walker’s vast experience, who is famously quick, might have used that time to get back in position, no?”

45+9 min Trossard finally leaves the field after about 60 seconds of chuntering. Arteta puts his arm round him before he walks down the tunnel.

45+7 min Partey is booked for a sliding foul on Gundogan (I think). An easy decision.

45+5 min “I willingly take back my prophecy that Arteta’s strategy was equivalent to having a plan until you got hit in the face,” says Charles Antaki. “It was all a masterpiece of planning, and allowing Haaland to get the first goal was a sophisticated gambit that Capablanca or Kasparov would have been proud of.”

45+4 min As Gary Neville stresses on Sky, Saka’s delivery for both Gabriel chances was nigh-on perfect.

45+3 min Blimey.

45+2 min There was a VAR check for a potential foul by Martinelli on Ederson, but the goal stands. Martinelli knew what he was doing, no question, but all he really did was stand his ground. With the current threshold it was never going to be overturned.

Ruben Dias has been booked, presumably for dissent.

It was exactly the same corner as the one in the 38th minute, but this time Gabriel got the header on target. He lost Kyle Walker – who was playing silly buggers before the corner was taken, patting Gabriel repeatedly – far too easily near the penalty spot. Saka again put the ball right under the crossbar, Ederson was blocked by Martinelli and Gabriel roared onto the scene to head in from three yards.

45 min Saka releases the overlapping Rice, who wins another corner for Arsenal. They’re dominating the game just now.

44 min City have lost much of their snap since the equaliser, though they are still dominating possession. Half-time will come at a good moment for them.

42 min: Chance for Arsenal! Gabriel decides to play Beckenbauer, strolling forward and sliding a slick return pass to release Martinelli on the left. He gets behind Walker and cuts the ball back sharply to Trossard, who shoots over from 15 yards on the stretch. It was an awkward ball to take first time but we’ve seen Trossard score not dissimilar chances in the past.

Martinelli has been Arsenal’s most dangerous attacker by a fair distance.

41 min “I’d like to know what the ref said during that break,” says Mark Childs. “Walker (and Saka) has just been instructed as captain ‘tell your players to calm down’, then shouldn’t he be given the time to do so?”

I don’t know about that, but he should have been given more time to get back to right-back. You can understand why City were so angry.

40 min City have had 72 per cent of the possession, which is remarkable, although Arsenal are probably having their best spell of the half as I type.

38 min: Chance for Arsenal! Saka curls a fantastic inswinging corner to the far post, where Gabriel heads over from barely four yards. What a chance! Ederson was out of the game, on the floor after running into Martinelli, so Gabriel only needed to get over the ball to score.

37 min Timber plays a good return pass to Saka, forcing Gvardiol to concede a corner. It’s Arsenal’s first, I think, and we know how dangerous they are at set-pieces.

36 min Doku gets involved for the first time, playing a quick give-and-go with Gvardiol before hitting a shot from the edge of the area that deflects behind. Savinho’s inswinger is headed away by Havertz.

34 min One big plus for Arsenal is that Timber has played Doku beautifully so far. Talking of Doku, he seems to kick the ball away but isn’t booked by Michael Oliver.

Trossard is given a yellow card for a tactical foul on Savinho. No argument with that.

32 min We’ve just seen a replay of the Arsenal goal. Kyle Walker was fuming because the referee called him and Bukayo Saka over in their role as captains, then allowed Arsenal to release Martinelli from the free-kick before Walker was able to get back.

Walker was also a bit slow to return to his position before the free-kick was taken. I can see both sides!

31 min Arsenal’s goal was a thing of peculiar beauty but that aside they have done very little in possession. They’ve defended a lot deeper since Haaland’s goal and are doing that part pretty well.

30 min A crisp 30-yarder from Walker is saved comfortably by Raya, diving to his right.

29 min Savinho beats Calafiori again and crosses early towards Haaland. Saliba gets across to make an important header. Calafiori has had a pretty torrid time in his day job, but his side hustle is going swimmingly.

28 min After a couple of minutes of frothing and foaming, City have picked up where they left off before Rodri’s injury. There’s still a spiteful edge to the match though, and there’s a fair chance it won’t end 1-1 or 11v11.

27 min “I know you’ve got the pace to handle Haaland, but isn’t he a bit taller than you?” says Joe Pearson. “No offence.”

Yeah but you know what they say: the first two feet are in the head.

26 min Imagine.

25 min Well that’s changed the mood. Until that point City had been rampant.

24 min It’s very rare that a player finds the top corner with an outswinger rather than an inswinger. Even rarer when it’s a left-back making his full debut.

City are furious about something but Riccardo Calafiori has just scored a screamer on his full debut. Partey took a quick free kick to find Martinelli in space on the left. He made good ground, then cut inside and laid the ball back to Calafiori just outside the area. Calafiori walked onto the ball and curled an extravagant left-foot shot that beat Ederson and nestled in the far corner. What a goal!

Pep Guardiola kicks a seat in frustration, while Ederson has been booked. City weren’t happy because they thought the free-kick was taken 10 yards away from where the original foul took place.

21 min: Man City substitution Mateo Kovacic replaces Rodri and immediately dispenses some three-fingered tactical advice.

The break allows Michael Oliver to have a word with both captains. It has been a very niggly start to the game.

21 min “Just as the Great White Shark is a brutal, efficient hunter killer, so Haaland is regarding scoring goals,” says Mary Waltz. “Who can stop him?”

Me, but Mikel won’t answer my bloody WhatsApps.

20 min Rodri is on his feet and limping very slowly to the touchline. His afternoon is over; let’s just hope it isn’t a serious injury.

18 min Rodri is sitting up now but looks pretty distressed – more, I suspect, because of the nature of the damage rather than the actual pain. He jarred his right leg as he fell and immediately clutched it when he hit the floor.

17 min The players were jockeying for position at a corner. Partey was tracking Rodri, they collided and then Rodri fell really awkwardly. I fear he has injured knee ligaments.

16 min Rodri is down again, this time holding the back of his leg. The City players have called for the physio. This doesn’t look good at all.

16 min Arsenal are under all kinds of pressure, and at the moment this game feels more 2022-23 than 2023-24.

15 min: Gundogan hits the post! It was a fine free-kick, curled round the side of the wall. Raya flew desperately to his left and the ball thumped off the outside of the post. Had that been on target I think it would have gone in.

14 min The impressive Savinho is fouled 20 yards out by Gabriel. It’s a fair way to the right of centre, but not enough to rule out a shot. Savinho and Gundogan are over the ball…

12 min City look bang up for this, almost as if they are the hunters rather than the hunted.

11 min Last season Erling Haaland didn’t have a shot on target against Arsenal in either league game. That was then and this is now. That was such a good goal. The turn from Savinho to lose Calafiori was delicious, Haaland’s first-time finish almost disdainful.

What a fantastic goal. It was made by Savinho, who turned Calafiori thrillingly on the halfway line, darted infield and slid a perfectly weighted pass into the space between Saliba and Gabriel. Haaland was too quick for the pair of them and toebunged the ball impatiently past Raya from 12 yards. Ruthless and brilliant.

7 min: Chance for City! Bernardo Silva, on the right, curls a fast cross towards Gundogan on the edge of the D. He flips the ball beautifully over Gabriel on the run, only to slash a volley wide from 10 yards. As Gary Neville says on Sky, the first touch was the harder part.

7 min We still haven’t seen a decent angle of that Rodri/Havertz incident. It may well just have been a collision, but for a few seconds it looked like Havertz might be sent off in record time.

5 min As for the actual football, both teams are pressing high up the field when they can. The ball is a bit of a hot potato.

4 min Now Haaland flattens Saliba, jumping for a high ball he was never going to win. Michael Oliver settles for a free-kick.

4 min Arsenal have started with the same system they used at Spurs last week, with Havertz and Trossard playing as a pair of false nines.

2 min Rodri is back on his feet and pointing a finger, presumably at Havertz. The incident has been cleared by VAR. The images aren’t great so there’s no evidence that Havertz raised an arm or anything like that, though Rodri was clearly unhappy.

This is really weird. City played the ball back to Ortega, and Havertz ran straight into Rodri. It’s being checked by VAR but the camera angles aren’t great.

1 min Rodri has gone down holding his face after barely 5 seconds.

1 min After a minute’s applause for the late Sir Howard Bernstein, City get the game under way. If you like to picture these things, they’re kicking from left to right.

“This is such a copy-and-paste game,” says Jeff Sax. “For the last two seasons the same things have been written about both teams, and the result has been the same. If this isn’t boring, what is?”

That’s not strictly true, unless you mean the outcome at the end of the season. The last four league games have all been different:

• Arsenal 1-3 Man City

• Man City 4-1 Arsenal

• Arsenal 1-0 Man City

• Man City 0-0 Arsenal

As the players take the field, here’s a reminder of the teams.

Manchester City (possible 4-1-2-3) Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri; Bernardo, Gundogan; Savinho, Haaland, Doku.
Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Stones, Kovacic, Grealish, Nunes, Foden, Lewis, McAtee.

Arsenal (possible 4-2-4-0) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Partey, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Trossard, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, White, Lewis-Skelly, Kiwior, Kacurri, Jorginho, Nwaneri, Sterling, Jesus.

Referee Michael Oliver.

Bukayo Saka will captain Arsenal today. Martin Odegaard, Jorginho and Gabriel Jesus – who wore the armband against Atalanta in midweek – are all either injured or on the bench.

The early Premier League game was a thriller, with four goals and both managers being sent off at the Amex Stadium.

Read Pep Guardiola on Arsenal and that other business

If you are pressing [then it is] long balls, they win the second balls. In the final third they have the ability to play 1,000 million passes and find the pockets and find the right space. If they can run, they can run. Martinelli, Saka, Ødegaard and whatever.

They are a top team because all the departments that a team needs to be solid, they do it. They are good at that. But we are good, too.

Barney Ronay on City’s charges

It is still hard to see any outcome that genuinely benefits the Premier League. Three things can happen from this point. First, City are found guilty and punished to a significant degree. This would represent a potential disaster for the Premier League, which would find its entire recent history discredited, its broadcast rights undermined and integrity open to question. It would also leave a champion club, the richest in the world, in a state of open, vengeful warfare with their own co-members. Hello? Is that the Super League? Yeah. Are we still on?

Irresistible force, meet immovable object

Here’s Mikel Arteta’s take on today’s game

We all know we need a big performance to beat them… We want to improve in certain areas but in order to do that it’s important that we have to be much, much better. We have been really open about discussing that. But the chances have to be created because the process has to be good.

Jonathan Wilson reflects on that 0-0 draw in March

There is, of course, no definitive answer. Had Arsenal opened up, that might have handed a chance to City, lifted them above Arsenal and had everybody condemning Arteta for his hubris. It’s not a case of right and wrong but, with hindsight, and given that at the time of the Arsenal game, City hadn’t won any of eight matches against the sides who would finish in the top six, might that have been an opportunity missed?

“Morning and breakfast greetings from California,” writes Mary Waltz. “Yes, its way too early to say this, but just from a confidence standpoint isn’t it a must win for Arsenal to show they are on the same level as City?”

Erm, wouldn’t a draw do that? I don’t think it’s a must-anything for either team, although it’s probably more important for Arsenal that they don’t lose.

Pep Guardiola on Rico Lewis (who he has left out today)

You ask any player: ‘What is your position?’ And they say: ‘I play holding midfielder. I play winger. I play that.’ Rico plays football. If you put him in one position, he knows exactly what he has to do. He’s so intelligent… I’ve been a manager for 14, 15 years, training unbelievable players. To find one like him in the pockets, he is one of the best I’ve ever trained.