Mixed feelings after City draw

A decent point gained or yet more dropped? The 2-2 draw against Manchester City certainly left me with a mixed feeling.

As a stand alone game I am happy with the result, especially as I'd have taken a point before the match against a City side who are always hard to play. However, given our recent poor form it is also hard to hide the disappointment of another two points dropped.

We are down in sixth and seven points behind fourth-placed City albeit with a game in hand. Even finishing in our infamous fourth place is going to be a tough ask. It is doable and not impossible, but even if we achieve it fourth isn't really good enough.

Danny Welbeck was a whisker away from giving Arsenal the lead when he blocked a clearance to send it just wide. But what was very disappointing was the ease at which City got their opening goal after just five minutes. Kevin De Bruyne's pass set up Sane, but poor defending allowed the winger to get through without any trouble before he took the ball beyond Ospina for a simple finish.

It could have got worse had De Bruyne's curling effort not hit a post before Ospina came to the rescue with a fine save to deny David Silva.

Mesut Ozil shot straight at Willy Caballero, while Nacho Monreal and Alexis Sanchez both sent efforts off target as we finally began to find our feet in the match. Theo Walcott then finally gave us something to cheer about when he equalised five minutes before the break. The England forward latched onto Shkodran Mustafi's header before calmly slotting a shot into the bottom corner of the net.

The euphoria soon turned to frustration though as we managed to concede again soon after. Aguero is arguably among the best strikers in the world and he made no mistake to score from Silva's pass.

Arsenal came very close to levelling matters again in first-half injury time, but Walcott's volley went agonisingly over the crossbar.

It got worse for Arsenal at half-time when key defender Laurent Koscielny was forced off injured with an Achilles problem and he was replaced by Gabriel.

Aguero missed a big chance after the break when he sent a header wide before we hauled ourselves back into the game with a second equaliser within eight minutes of the restart. Mustafi climbed above the opposition to power home a header from an Ozil corner.

Both sides wasted chances to find a winning goal as Ospina saved Aguero's header before Ozil failed to make the most of a poor back pass by the visitors.

The two sides continued to exchange chances with Silva and Arsenal substitute Alex Iwobi both sending their efforts off target in the closing stages.

Neither side could find a winner in the end so the spoils were shared at the Emirates.

OPPOSITION VIEW
Manchester City fan Jordan Fiddes admitted a draw was probably a fair result, but was also left frustrated at some of his side's performances.

"City started with the devastating pace I've come to expect from our wide players like Sane and Sterling and really should have capitalised on their advantage early on," said Fiddes. "However, what has come to be a regular feature under Guardiola's reign, the defence didn't have the composure to match Aguero at the other end and Arsenal used that to take control of the game and fully deserved to equalise.

"The turning point for me was Aguero's misjudged header which he put wide, unlike Mustafi at the other end. A draw was a fair result, but this was a huge opportunity missed for the sky blues at a crucial time to close the gap on Chelsea.

"Had we closed the gap further, Wednesday's game at Stamford Bridge would have far more at stake!"

MY FINAL THOUGHTS
A point against Manchester City can always be considered decent, but it felt more like two points dropped this time as we haven't tasted victory in the league since February.

We will have a chance to swiftly attempted to get back on track when West Ham visit the Emirates and if we are to have any chance of a top-four finish it is a game we cannot afford to lose.

Win lose or draw nothing will stop me supporting the Gunners, but we definitely need a league victory soon to get that winning feeling back!

COME ON YOU GUNNERS