On this evidence, Arsenal and Manchester City look ready to go the distance again in the Premier League. Whether Mikel Arteta can finally get the better of Pep Guardiola is still unknown.
A 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium showed Arsenal can certainly go toe-to-toe with the four-time defending champion — but it also confirmed City’s powers of resilience after dominating English soccer for the past six years.
“Still we have this passion, this fire inside ourselves,” Guardiola said after John Stones rescued a point with an equalizer in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Arsenal has been runner-up to City in each of the last two years — setting new benchmarks along the way — but still coming up short.
Arteta was Guardiola’s former assistant at City and now stands as his biggest threat.