Manchester City striker Erling Haaland will reportedly face no further action after throwing the ball at the head of Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes towards the end of yesterday’s Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium.
It was a feisty encounter between the two teams deemed to be the most likely challengers for this season’s Premier League title, with John Stones scoring deep into stoppage time to draw Man City level after ten-man Arsenal looked to be heading for a surprise victory.
Haaland scored earlier in the game, but didn’t show his best side as he clashed with a number of Arsenal players after the final whistle, and threw the ball straight at Gabriel from close range just after Stones had scored.
Still, it seems the Norway international’s actions were not deemed enough to warrant any retrospective action against him, according to Jack Gaughan…
VAR reviewed the Haaland/Gabriel ball chuck at the time and deemed no action was necessary. Man City striker won't face retrospective punishment.
— Jack Gaughan (@Jack_Gaughan) September 23, 2024
Haaland shows his frustration in tough game for City
Haaland perhaps got a bit lucky there, as this is surely not the kind of behaviour we want to see from professionals on a football pitch, but it’s also far from the worst thing we’ve sometimes seen players do when there’s a lot at stake and a lot of animosity between two sets of players.
City will be relieved to have scraped a draw, but Arsenal will also surely feel they have shown once again just how serious title contenders they’re going to be.
Mikel Arteta inherited an Arsenal team that was nowhere near challenging for the title, and even struggling to get into the top four, and they would so often be turned over in matches like this.
However, playing with ten men for much of yesterday’s match, they were very close to an impressive win, and some will feel they were arguably pretty unlucky to ultimately concede a scrappy goal late on after limiting City’s chances.