[Music] Mel ARA previously claimed only absolute perfection would knock Manchester City off their perch and if they only have nine lives over the course of a long Top Flight season the booze that preceded the fall time whistle would suggest referee Chris kavanau has already blown one his decision to brandish a second yellow card for Dean rice represented a drastic swing of the pendulum in this chaotic bad blooded firecracker but the flash point still felt somewhat scandalous the 105 million Midfield Lynch pins 42nd minute lunge that flattened Joel veltman was desperate and stupid but the meaningless frar that broke out by the corner flag was certainly not worthy of any form of punishment however that does not acit rice from a share of the blame because had Arsenal kept 11 men on the pitch there was simply only one winner it must be noted that for a player of Rice's experience he was incredibly naive to even consider stepping across the free kick and risk being thumped by veltman's right boot even if his contact with the ball was still so so minimal Arsenal will argue the ball was also in motion and not even positioned in the correct place but the cold hard facts are that Rice gave kavan a a decision to make and should know better particularly with a caution to his name the the incident will now ultimately have to form part of Arsenal's continued Evolution as they strive to shift their status from persistent title hopefuls into Champions join the debate what did you make of the decision to send rice off let us know here rice was notably poor as were Captain Martin niggard and Thomas party and his performance levels appear to have stagnated since the end of last season following a substandard European championships but even when you brush all of that to on side at 1 comma one after XA Pedro's leveler Kai vertz and buio Saka squandered two golden opportunities to restore the lead and they just had to make them count it therefore feels fair to question the consistency of Arsenal's ruthless streak and Killer Instincts in crunch moments of this magnitude when the going gets tough and hard for points are on the line you just could not help but feel Manchester City would already have been out of sight we have also seen this type of uncharacteristically underwhelming home performance from Arsenal in Years Gone by the sinking 3 comma 0 defeat to Brighton in May 2023 the 2 comma 2 draw with Fulham 12 months ago and the gut wrenching 2 comma 0 loss at the hands of Aston Villa in April that defectively terminal in the title race importantly on this occasion Arsenal did not crumble amidst a late flurry of Brighton dominance and make no mistake there is no shame in dropping points to Fabian hsel as talented young hungry and gutsy side especially with 10 men they will be in top six contention this season there is no doubt about that as D quickly maturing into the Premier League's most watchable team the deadline day arrival of Raheem Sterling who watched on from his own executive box appeared to elevate sucker's game to even greater Heights as Miss side he ran makeshift left backjack hinchel wood ragged havs in spell also played like a man possessed and you get the feeling the signing of Sterling will bolster not only motivation levels but performances across the board in attack amid increased competition for places news of Mikel Marino's shoulder injury now feels even more damaging as Arsenal could do with his physical presence in Midfield to drag them through matches when players such as oard and party falter Arsenal should not have let this match descend into chaos and if they're able to learn a lesson to avoid void repeating the same mistakes later in the season then this draw could prove to be an all too valuable lesson all hope cannot be lost as early as August but Arsenal know better than anyone that in this business it is usually down to fine margins and this was unquestionably two must win points dropped on home soil join our new WhatsApp Community privacy notice for