Arsenal aggression will have done little to calm Pep Guardiola's fixture fury amid Man City injury concerns
As the final whistle sounded at the Etihad on Sunday Rodri collapsed on his back midway inside the Arsenal half.
The Spaniard had produced another peerless performance in the engine room as Manchester City battled to a 0-0 draw with title rivals Arsenal. And battle it was.
The Gunners were aggressive and tenacious, particularly in the first half. Bernardo Silva was fouled three times in the opening quarter and the Gunners continued to adopt a confrontational approach. Gabriel Jesus was lucky to avoid a caution in the first half as tackles rained in. City fronted up but it seemed a clear message from the visiting camp to ensure they were not out-fought having crumbled here last season in a damaging 4-1 defeat that proved the catalyst for their title challenge downfall.
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This time City couldn't break them down and Arsenal's streetwise approach, which saw them commit 20 fouls to City's nine and yet the only yellow cards Anthony Taylor saw fit to distribute were to Jesus for kicking the ball away and David Raya for time wasting.
City will be nursing sore limbs and bodies on their Bank Holiday off. But they won't have a chance to rest for long.
Aston Villa are in town on Wednesday to kick off an eight-game April that will define the campaign across three competitions. Guardiola is angry with the fixture schedule which sees his side play an away Champions League quarter-final three days before a Wembley FA Cup semi-final for the fourth year running.
He has a point on the fixture list, which impacts City more than