Arsenal gundown 10 men City

Arsenal beat an in form Manchester City side at the City of Manchester Stadium 3-0 on Sunday to move into second place in the table and 5 points behind Chelsea. City had a man sent off early on which didn't help their cause. Nasri, Song and Bendtner grabbed the goals. Arsenal despite being heavily criticised against not doing well against their title rivals put the critics wrong with a well deserved victory against a team that had beaten Chelsea 1-0 earlier in the season.

Manchester City got a great early chance to take the lead when Tevez broke down the right hand side. He slid the ball into Silva who flicked the ball towards goal but Fabianski kept the shot out brilliantly diving to his right hand side.

Man City's chances then took a turn for the worse when young centre back Dedryk Boyata was sent off for bringing down Chamakh just outside the box. The referee had no choice but to send the player off because he had got none of the ball and was denying a goal scoring opportunity.
Manchester City were still causing troubles despite being down to 10 men and Tevez had a great opportunity to break the deadlock but his shot was straight at Fabianski.

There were chances at both ends now and Djourou had a chance to make the score 1-0 to Arsenal but put his free header over the bar after a great ball in from Sagna.
Then on 20 minutes the deadlock was broken and Arsenal had a deserved goal. Nasri playing a neat 1-2 with Arshavin and then firing the shot home for his seventh goal of the season.

Manchester City were fashioning a lot of chances and Micah Richards got a great chance from right back to score but put his shot harmlessly wide on his weaker foot.

Arsenal were then awarded with a penalty after Kompany brought down Fabregas just inside the area. Fabregas stepped up to take the penalty as usual but his spot kick was saved brilliantly by the hands of Joe Hart to keep the score at 1-0 going into the break.

The score at half time was 1-0 to Arsenal.

Fabregas got a great early chance in the second half to make up for his penalty miss but he hit the shot tamely and it was saved by Hart.

Manchester City then had a great chance to grab an equaliser but David Silva's shot was again saved brilliantly by Fabianski. From the resulting corner Adebayor got a great chance to score against his former team but headed over from just 4 yards out.

Manchester City were ruing their missed chances and Arsenal then extended their lead to 2-0 half way into the second half after Bridge gifted the ball to Song inside the area. He then smashed the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the week. The three points looked in the bag now for the Gunners.


Arsenal were now having the majority of the chances and with City down to 10 men the defence were now looking tired and weak. Chamakh got a great chance to make it 3-0 to the Gunners but blazed his shot over the crossbar.

The Gunners then sealed the victory late on when Nasri did brilliantly to keep the ball in play on the left hand side. He then fed the ball to Bendtner who slotted the ball beyond Hart for his first goal since coming back from injury. The score was now 3-0 to the Arsenal.

City had a great chance to get a consolation goal when Silva fed Adebayor but Clichy got the crucial tackle in and the ball went out for a corner. From the corner the ball went out to Boateng on the edge of the box who smashed an effort towards goal but Fabianski who had had a great game tipped the ball over the bar to keep his clean sheet intact.

The final score ended Manchester City 0-3 Arsenal.

The teams lineups:

Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Boyata, Kompany, Boateng, Milner, Barry(71), De Jong, Toure Yaya(46), Silva, Tevez(51).
Subs: Given, Bridge(46), Lescott, Vieira, Johnson, Adebayor(51), Balotelli(71).

Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Djourou, Squillaci, Clichy, Arshavin(69), Denilson, Song, Fabregas(83), Nasri, Chamakh(83).
Subs: Szczesny, Koscielny, Gibbs, Eboue, Walcott(83), Rosicky(69), Bendtner(83).

My man of the match: Lukasz Fabianski

Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Attendance: 47,393