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Arsenal v Manchester City – Match review

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After enduring a blip in west London the other day, Arsenal had a week rest and enough time to regroup and analyze the defeat at QPR.

It was clear for all to see that desire coupled with action was lacking in the QPR game and they were not to repeat the same against a stuttering Man City side who were making their trip down to the capital to honour their date with Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger deployed his side in an all too familiar 4-5-1 formation, with Wojciech Szcezcny between the sticks and Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscienly, Thomas Vermalean and Kieran Gibbs providing the rear cover. As usual, Alex Song was paired with Mikel Arteta in the middle and Tomas Rosicky completed the central trio. Yossi Benayoun occupied the wide left berth and Theo Walcott was wide right with Robin van Persie leading the team from the front end.

Roberto Mancini on the other hand lined up with a similar formation with the leagues top shot-stopper Joe Hart in goal. Vincent Kompany skippered the side and was paired with Joleon Lescott in the heart of the Citeh defence. To their left was ex-Gunner and boo-target Gael Clichy, while the Argie Pablo Zabaleta completed their back four. A central trio of Yaya Toure, Gareth Barry and the other boo-target and ex-Gunner Samir Nasri made up the side’s midfield. While James Milner, Mario Balotelli and Sergio Aguero completed the Citeh starting eleven.

The way both teams were lined up, an interesting midfield battle was in the offing and both teams did not disappoint on the day.

The game started with the home side on the front foot with intent and desire showing they really wanted something out of the game, and it was not long before the revitalized Rosicky picked the ball in the midfield, made a darting run around Yaya towards the visitors box and was hurled down by the Ivoirian leaving the match referee Matt Atkinson no choice but to hand him a yellow card. There was barely two minutes on the clock and it was clear to see that the game had a lot of intrigue in stock for the fans.

The game gradually settled into a familiar pattern with Arsenal keeping the ball and asking questions of the Citeh team. Niggling fouls here and there and a high line playing Arsenal defence meant the Citeh front-men were getting caught offside, while Van Persie was caught offside on a few occasions as well. There were a few chances in between and on the 10th minute Alex Song stopped Yaya with a tackle that sent the Ivoirian tumbling to the turf. He stayed down for a while and eventually limped off after medics attended to him. It looked like he was trying to get Song booked by staying down, but the extent of his injury was revealed when he was subbed by on-loan Italian David Pizarro on the 17th minute. As if to retaliate, a high tackle by Balotelli on Song was missed by the match officials and the Arsenal midfielder was lucky not to have picked up a severe injury. Balotelli was lucky as well to have stayed on the pitch, as the tackle warranted a red.

The first real opening of the game came in the 14th minute when an in-swinging corner to the near post was flicked on before Van Persie had his goal bound header hit the back of Vermalean’s back. Rosicky met the rebound with a header from six-yards out, but could only head over the bar.

Both sides enjoyed spells of possession, but it was the Arsenal who looked to be more assured in possession with Arteta, Song and Rosicky dictating play, while Benayoun was lively as well.

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