John Stones scored deep in injury time as Manchester City salvaged a 2-2 draw with 10-man Arsenal on Sunday to remain top of the Premier League table after a rip-roaring battle against their bitter title rivals.
The draw in what was more of a slugfest than a chess match left Pep Guardiola’s men with 13 points after five matches, while Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are fourth with 11.
Erling Haaland put City ahead in the ninth minute when Savinho threaded a beautiful through ball that the big Norwegian sprinted onto then slotted past David Raya.
Ricardo Calafiori cancelled out Haaland’s goal with his first for Arsenal, a screamer from about 20 metres out in the 22nd minute. Arsenal had caught City unprepared with a free kick in the lead-up, leaving Guardiola furiously karate kicking his chair.
Gabriel put the visitors ahead in first-half injury time when he darted in to leap high and head home Bukayo Saka’s corner.
Arsenal were reduced to 10 men when Leandro Trossard was shown a second yellow and sent off just before halftime for kicking the ball away and delaying the restart.
They looked poised for their first win at the Etihad Stadium since 2015 before Stones prodded in from close range in the 98th minute.
Earlier, Brighton & Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest maintained unbeaten starts to the Premier League season with a topsy-turvy 2-2 draw as the visitors finished with 10 men and both managers were shown red cards in a feisty clash on Sunday.
Forest led through Chris Wood’s 13th-minute penalty but hosts Brighton finally sprang to life just before the interval to turn the match on its head with two goals in three minutes.
Jack Hinshelwood powered in a headed equaliser after 42 minutes before Danny Welbeck curled a free kick inside the post.
Forest were rewarded for their efforts though as substitute Ramon Sosa slotted home from close range in the 70th.
Tempers flared when Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White was shown a red card for a robust tackle which earned him a second booking and the managers were also sent from the technical area.
The two clubs have nine points from their opening five games with Brighton in seventh spot and Forest eighth.
Forest have been one of the surprise packages in the early weeks of the season with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side underlining their improvement with a victory at Liverpool last weekend.
They disrupted Brighton’s usual rhythm on Sunday and were deservedly ahead when Wood tucked away his spot kick after
Carlos Baleba bundled over Callum Hudson-Odoi.
The visitors were in control with Brighton becalmed but everything changed in the final minutes of the half.
Brighton’s first effort on goal earned them an equaliser as Hinshelwood met a cross by Jan Paul van Hecke with a sweetly-timed header to send the ball beyond the dive of Matz Sels.
Forest were rattled and found themselves behind minutes later when Kaoru Mitoma was fouled by Ola Aina outside the area and Welbeck dispatched an unstoppable free kick.
Brighton appeared to be heading into the top four but switched off and Sosa scored his first goal for Forest.
Despite being held the Seagulls are unbeaten in their first five games of a top-flight season for the first time.
Gibbs-White was dismissed for a second booking after racing across the pitch to launch a strong tackle on Joao Pedro, with the midfielder incensed by the decision as was Espirito Santo who was sent off along with Brighton boss Fabian Huerzeler for “unacceptable technical area behaviour” following the incident.