One Moment in Time: Wright-Phillips – As soon as I hit it, I knew it was in! | OneFootball

Shaun Wright-Phillips says his stunner at Highbury in our 1-1 draw against Arsenal in 2004 ranks as his favourite City goal.

Wright-Phillips picked the ball up just outside the box on the half hour mark before launching an unstoppable, swerving drive past Manuel Almunia.

It shocked the North London faithful and Arsene Wenger’s champions boasting Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Ashley Cole, Robin van Persie, our very own assistant coach Kolo Toure and the man who bagged the second half equaliser, Freddie Ljungberg.

SWP’s opener even had his Dad - Gunners legend Ian Wright - celebrating a touch too exuberantly for the liking of the home fans.

Wright-Phillips, reminiscing this week ahead of Sunday’s clash with Arsenal, ranks it as his favourite goal and also insists he had a great feeling the moment the ball left his foot.

“The ball came to me and I was about five yards outside the box with no real pressure,” he told us.

“I just wanted to honestly make a clean contact. Joe Royle and Willie Donachie used to say to me that if you're going to shoot, try and make the keeper work.

“I looked to hit the target and I aimed for the hardest target possible in terms of the keeper trying to get there and save it. That's what I went for.

“When it left my foot, I just knew. Sometimes as a player, you can just tell or you've got a feeling that it's going to go in. I just knew he wasn’t going to stop it.

“The contact I made on the ball was just perfect.

“I managed to cut across it. Just a little bit. Enough to set it on a trajectory just outside the post to make it even harder for the keeper. That was my initial aim when I was making contact with that ball.

“It’s my favourite goal.
Everybody always expects me to say the Manchester United one when we beat them 4-1. That for me was an awesome goal as well, but I think in terms of Dad's legacy there, the quality of the goal, me being on the end of some batterings from Arsenal in previous years, this is my favourite.

“They were a formidable team. We played against them many times and they could cut you apart. You had to be concentrated against them for the full 90 minutes. You couldn't get away with anything, because they were so clinical. At times, it was scary.

“So to go to Highbury with that squad they had at the time and to manage to come away with a 1-1 draw and knowing that Dad was there, it just had a lot of meaning behind it.

“To have Dad there and to score against a team he clearly supports and he loses himself and forgets where he is added that extra value to it.”

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Wright-Phillips, a popular Matchday Live pundit these days for City Studios, is relishing the 2025/26 edition of the Arsenal v City fixture – and expects a tight, tense game.

“To be honest, I think it’ll be another close encounter,” he added.

“Arsenal have started the season well, they have one of the best defences in the Premier League. It’s not easy to break them down.

“With their attack Noni Madueke has been their biggest threat going forward. Then you see Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli coming on in the Champions League.

“Their confidence is very, very high. And it will be a very, very tough game.

“But then City come into it following a derby win over United and an opening Champions League victory over Napoli.

“Everyone is saying that Erling Haaland is in amazing form. Haaland is just doing what Haaland does.

“People called his season last time a bad season and he still scored 22 Premier League goals. So the guy's a machine.

“Arsenal know that and they know if they give him too many chances, one will end up in the back of the net.

“Hopefully they field their strongest team and us as well and I think it’ll be a fantastic game.”