Arsenal drew 1-1 with Manchester City on Sunday in London thanks to a last-gasp goal from Brazilian winger Gabriel Martinelli.
The draw spared Arsenal’s blushes after a difficult, chess-like match that saw Arsenal struggle to break through City’s lines.
The secret to City’s resolute defense? Two new-look fullbacks on opposite sides of the field.
City coach Pep Guardiola has long championed ball-playing defenders like English left back Kyle Walker and Portuguese right back Matheus Nunes. But City’s match against Arsenal was shaped, colored and ultimately decided by two defenders championing a wildly different approach.
The “train” from Tashkent
Three years ago, City full back Abdukodir Khusanov was toiling away for a less-than-stellar youth team in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Today, he’s one of the top defensive prospects on earth. The 21-year-old began his career as a battering ram of a right-sided defender — nicknamed “the train” by his Uzbek teammates — but has morphed into a frighteningly gifted and versatile player under Guardiola.
“He’s young, so fast, and very clean in possession,” Guardiola said of Khusanov. “Sometimes his energy leads to wrong decisions, but with time, he’ll improve. We keep on talking to him.”
Those talks have borne fruit. Khusanov had a City debut to forget when he joined the club in January 2025, earning a cheap yellow card just four minutes into his time on the field. But since that difficult day, Khusanov has leveled up, blending his signature straight-line speed and strength with Guardiola’s preferred ball-playing skills, and the effect has been magical for City, culminating in an eyebrow-raising, game-winning performance against Manchester United in the derby this season.
