In an ideal world, Arteta would no doubt have been happy to send City off the pitch at the Etihad, to beat his old mentor with a fluid passing game. This was not an ideal world, however. Not only because of Trossard’s dismissal, but also because Arsenal arrived in Manchester without Martin Odegaard, their most important figure and the playmaker through whom their entire game flows.

At this point, City fans will likely note that Kevin De Bruyne was absent for the hosts. The difference here is that De Bruyne’s understudy is Ilkay Gundogan, while Odegaard’s deputy is 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri. Gundogan has as many trophies on his resume as Nwaneri has senior minutes on his.

As the debate raged over the past 24 hours, Arsenal fans were understandably quick to point out that for years their team had been accused of being too soft at times like this. Now they are being vilified for being too mean. Those fans, and certainly Arteta himself, would much rather draw ugly than lose beautifully.

City is no stranger to ‘dark arts’

The whining from City’s players is particularly hard to stomach because it suggests that Guardiola’s team see themselves as the high priests of all that is good in the game. Which, frankly, is a laughable notion. Yes, City play fantastic attacking football, but they are as street-smart and cynical as any other team in the division.

To accuse Arsenal of mastery of the “dark arts” is to ignore City’s own excellence in this area. One of the defining characteristics of their success under Guardiola, for example, has been their ability to commit tactical fouls. In 2019, Rodri said he had learned “tactical fouls” under Guardiola’s management.

This is not to criticise City for such antics. All the top teams do it all the time. It is simply the nature of football at the elite level in the modern game. Arsenal have indeed been on the other side of this particular stylistic fence, and will be again at various points this season. Last December, at home to West Ham United, Arteta’s side lost 2-0 to a team that had just 26 per cent possession.

West Ham’s manager that day was David Moyes, who has always seen beauty in these energetic defensive stands. During his punditry duty with BeIn Sports on Sunday, Moyes described Arsenal’s performance as a “brilliant, brilliant defensive job.” Moyes, let’s not forget, was Arteta’s manager for six years at Everton.

From Arsenal’s perspective, the complaints from City’s players will be seen as evidence that they have truly gotten under the skin of their opponents. This was on display at the final whistle, when a furious Erling Haaland told Arteta to “stay humble” and then called Gabriel Jesus a “f—— clown”.