Arsenal may have avoided defeat against Manchester City, but there was still something a little calamitous about Sunday’s outing at the Emirates.
First came suggestions that CEO Ivan Gazidis had made private comments promising the supporters change. Other fans spent the early part of the afternoon on their latest ‘Wenger Out’ stunt, this time scaling down the plane to a van.
Perhaps unsurprisingly amidst all this, it took City just five minutes to open the scoring through Leroy Sane.
To their credit, the Gunners twice came from behind. Theo Walcott cancelled out Sane’s goal, and Shkodran Mustafi later found a reply to City’s second from Sergio Aguero.
The result has done little to improve Arsenal’s top four hopes regardless.
To add to the list of ‘you-couldn’t-make-it-up’ moments at the Emirates, it’s now being reported that they also broke a Premier League rule in the second half by failing to have a nominated captain on the pitch.
Sky Sports’ Bryan Swanson gave the following updates:
Arsenal appear to have broken Premier League rule after lack of nominated captain in second half against Man City on Sunday. #afc (1/3)
— Bryan Swanson (@skysports_bryan) April 4, 2017
Arsenal spokesperson has told #SSNHQ it's unclear whether there was a captain but Theo Walcott was senior player on the pitch. #afc (2/3)
— Bryan Swanson (@skysports_bryan) April 4, 2017
We're told Premier League relaxed over potential rule breach & will remind Arsenal of requirements. No further action. #afc #SSNHQ (3/3)
— Bryan Swanson (@skysports_bryan) April 4, 2017
The original captain, Laurent Koscielny, was forced off with a recurrence of his Achilles injury.
Fortunately for Arsenal, it doesn’t appear there will be any punishment for the incident, but it just sums up the sense of chaos at the club right now.
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