What Arsenal star Gabriel Magalhaes did to avoid nightmare Erling Haaland scenario vs Man City

Arsenal had nothing but good defending to thank for their resilience against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday despite a late penalty appeal for Erling Haaland, a panel has explained. The Norwegian striker went tumbling in the area with just minutes to go of a tense title battle that ended goalless and, despite his protests, nothing was coming.

Haaland had largely been kept quiet during the game thanks to some commanding defending from William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, but the Gunners were nearly made to pay for just a momentary lapse in the final seconds. Reaching to get onto a whipped cross, Haaland felt that he was pulled down by Gabriel in a continuation of a tough one-on-one battle.

It was one of few nervy moments that came from City sending the ball into the box but even then was waved away quickly. Anthony Taylor barely took a second glance at the incident despite Haaland's appeals with Gabriel also standing firm. The Brazilian roared into Haaland's face when leaving the box, making his stance clear that the forward was looking for a moment that didn't exist.

VAR confirmed this, checking the incident as is procedure, but not finding anything untoward from the collision. «There is a slight shirt pull but I think again it is quite strong defending,» said Sue Smith on Sky Sports' Ref Watch on Monday, adding: «It was very half-hearted from Haaland, I think he knew it was very good defending in the box.»

Remonstrations aside, former Premier League official Dermot Gallagher was in agreement. «I think you used the right word, half-hearted, I think both players are very strong,» he said. «He goes to ground, there's not a lot of feeling for it, certainly not from me.»

Erling Haaland gets two-word response from