Man City vs Arsenal round one might have just dished up an early contender for game of the season and although the game itself was thrilling, it was the argument between Erling Haaland, Gabriel Jesus and Mikel Arteta that the cameras caught after the full-time whistle that fans are lapping up.
Following the frustration felt on both sides after an extremely tense 2-2 draw in the first real face-off for this year’s Premier League title, there were some heated words exchanged between Erling Haaland, ex-Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus and their former coach Mikel Arteta.
Picked up by the Sky Sports cameras, a little jab from the big Norwegian resulted not only in a quick death stare by Arteta but also some rapid intervention from Jesus before the whole thing boiled over and they had to be separated.
Maybe it’s still too early to tell but this doesn’t look like just any old bit of beefing between two title contenders you’d get in any other season – it could be the start of a proper era of City vs Arsenal rivalry.
"Stay humble eh" 🔥
Listen to Erling Haaland's comments to Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta at full-time following the 2-2 draw 🚨 pic.twitter.com/sXVYrK7hw9
As you can see, Haaland – who made it 100 goals for City in 105 games (matching Cristiano Ronaldo’s first-to-a-century record for one club – turned a quick handshake with Pep Guardiola’s former right-hand man into a dig, patting him on the back and quipping, “Stay humble, eh?”
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While the Arsenal manager does turn to react, we’ll never know what he was about to say, if anything, as the club’s previous number-nine comes to his defence, asking why he feels the need to add such comments, at which point Haaland proceeds say “get the f*** away from you f***ing clown.”
The trio are eventually separated by Jack Grealish and other members of the technical staff but Arteta ultimately turns to calm down Jesus as the coverage cuts out.
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Nevertheless, the very widely broadcasted spat felt very vintage Barclays, with supporters of both teams and neutrals alike enjoying the feistiness of the exchange. Safe to say Haaland won’t be exchanging Christmas cards with Arteta or Jesus.
Reacting online, one person captioned the clip, “Elite level sports – you eat or get eaten! I love this”; another added, “Jheeez Haaland’s ego is maddd”, while a third simply wrote: “For what a season this is gonna be”. Meanwhile, match-hero John Stones had some choice words of his own after saving a point.
"CITY ARE OUT OF JAIL!" 🤯
John Stones gets Manchester City's equaliser with mere seconds left to play! 💥 pic.twitter.com/owIr7jjkJn
Clearly feeling somewhat defiant and more lofted after scoring the equalising goal right at the death to keep the Blues’ unbeaten streak alive – 28 games unbeaten in the league and a whopping 47 games unbeaten at home – Stones had a pop of his own at Arsenal’s tactics.
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Speaking after the game, the 30-year-old said of their opponents ‘dark arts’ approach to the game: “I don’t know if they have mastered it, they’ve done it for a few years, and we know to expect that. You can call it clever, or dirty, whichever way you want to put it.
“They break up the game, and it upsets the rhythm for everyone. I thought we dealt with it really well. It’s not easy when those things are happening”, he continued, with teammate Bernardo Silva going on to argue: “There was only one team that came to play football. The other came to play to the limits of what was possible to do and allowed by the referee.”
To put it in the words of popular online commentator and podcaster HLTCO, a.k.a. Dan Cook, “Aggro is back at the top of our game” and regardless of whether you’re sad to see love lost between the likes of Arteta, Jesus and their former employers, the vast majority seemed to have very much enjoyed it.
BREAKING: Manchester City and Arsenal will face NO retrospective punishment after Sunday's fiery clash ❌
Erling Haaland threw the ball at the back of Gabriel's head after City's injury time equaliser, but the FA cannot get involved as the incident was reviewed at the time by… pic.twitter.com/dli2KCztJe
Manchester City reveal trailer for upcoming Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary
Danny Jones
Man City have revealed the first trailer for their new Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary, charting the course of their record-breaking four consecutive Premier League titles.
The follow-up to the Together: Treble Winners series, City‘s highly-anticipated documentary dropped earlier this year following their historic 2023/23 season, the movie will follow the same concept and relive the Manchester club’s latest unprecedented feat from 20/21 onwards.
While the previous TV outing was picked up by Netflix, the latest instalment is set to arrive at the end of this month exclusively on CITY+.
You can see the trailer for Together: 4-In-A-Row down below:
The new Man City documentary will feature exclusive interviews with manager extraordinaire, Pep Guardiola, Ballon d’Or winner and Champions League-winning goalscorer Rodri, club captain Kyle Walker and many more.
There will also be footage including soon-to-depart Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain, as well as the City Football Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ferran Soriano.
Swapping the series format for a feature-length film this time, this is arguably CITY+‘s biggest release to date, with the content subscription service typically offering full match replays, youth academy coverage, as well as smaller documentaries and podcasts.
The streaming service (accessible via the website, Man City app and smart TVs) was only started back in 2024 but now four years later, rather fittingly, it’s set to document the most important years in the club’s history.
We’ve seen multiple Man City docs in recent years – their 2018 All Or Nothing Amazon Prime Video mini-series being the first – but the launch of the Together franchise back in April has helped put City Studios, on the map.
The in-house entertainment arm, first set up in 2022, has even more ambitious plans for the coming years, with a huge deal to create multiple big-budget productions in collaboration with Sony.
Fans are getting even more behind-the-scenes content soon.
Gavin Johnson, Media Director at CFG, said of the trailer reveal: “We’re delighted to announce the release of our latest offering in the ‘Together’ collection.
“Produced once again by our award-winning in-house production and creative hub, City Studios, the documentary film offers our fans a true insight into the team and how they achieved the historic four-in-a-row success.”
Set to be released at 6pm UK time on 20 November, Together: 4-In-A-Row will only be able to watch via the CITY+ platform.
So, if you’re a Blue who wants to relive the last four years of non-stop silverware, you can enjoy a 30-day free trial, after which CITY+ is just £4.99 a month. An annual subscription can be purchased for £34.99 a year or for £30 with an Official Cityzens membership/season ticket.
Man United legend Eric Cantona stuns Manchester artists with surprise visit to GRIT Studios
Danny Jones
Artists working at a Manchester studio were left speechless by a recent surprise visit from none other than Man United legend Eric Cantona.
The former United forward’s love for the city has never waned no matter how many years have gone by and as a lover of all things art, be it music, painting, acting or what he did with a football, he never fails to engage with local culture whenever he’s here.
He may not be based here anymore but the Frenchman – who knows a thing or two about art given his past acting jobs, newfound music career and previous showcases – still pays plenty of visits to 0161, including a recent unannounced one.
Cantona was back in the city centre this week to pay GRIT Studios resident Michael Browne, the artist who he collaborated with to create his National Football Museum exhibition last year, but the one thing Browne didn’t do was let the other people working in their city centre location he was coming.
Credit: GRIT Studios Manchester (supplied)
To be fair, anyone would double-take if they saw Eric Cantona walk into a room, so this was quite a memorable occasion for the unsuspecting artists.
After working on 2023’s From Moss Side to Marseille with Browne, the 58-year-old has been reimmersing himself in the world of Manchester art and there aren’t many places that epitomise that more than GRIT, who are based in Stockport with a second studio at Great Northern Warehouse.
Landing in Manchester from Paris, Cantona arrived in the late morning and ended up staying for over an hour, taking time to meet a number of artists and tour the space with co-founder John Macaulay.
Clearly impressed with their work and genuinely enthused by the sense of community within the local grassroots art scene, it was a special visit for everyone involved.
John, a die-hard Man United fan who has seen the Red Devils play in 25 countries before going on to set up GRIT Studios and much-loved Art Battle MCR with his wife Sophie, said: “It’s full circle for me having watched Eric play all over the world, it’s true honour that he’s flown in to see our talented artists.”
Artists spent time chatting with Eric and talking through their creative processes; those present included mosaic artist, Francis Thorrington, plein air (outdoor) artist, Sketch MCR – a.k.a. Ben Rock – painters Jodie Silverman, Helen Davies and Sophie Macaulay, as well as woodworker Gus Riddell.
Also a fellow United fan, Francis said he simply “couldn’t stop smiling the whole time” after Cantona described his work as wonderful.
Eric looked at home when he picked up and started strumming Chris Pollin’s hand-made guitars, which are handcrafted from driftwood and take hundreds of hours of work.
The enigmatic sports personality turned pop philosopher and cultural figure clearly enjoyed the visit. His final message was that it was refreshing to see a place where “art was for everyone” not just the elite.
As for Browne, he is sworn to secrecy on his next project but let’s just say you can expect some big announcements in the coming weeks. As for GRIT, you can visit one of their open days this Saturday, 16 November and make sure to check out their Stockport studio if you’re in the area.
Danny Jones -
23rd September 2024 
