City’s first opening came on the 24th minute mark when Balotelli left his marker to meet a Barry free-kick only for Gibbs to clear after Wojo looked to have been beaten.
The game continued with Arsenal prodding and probing and Balotelli escaped another caution with yet another high tackle, this time on Sagna. It was turning not only into midfield and team duels, but also players were taking on each other in their positions. Clichy was duelling with Walcott down the Arsenal right, while Balotelli and Sagna made it a personal affair as well. In the middle, it was a case of old and new no 8’s, as Nasri and Arteta were at each other’s jugular, while Kosher and Verma took turns to deal with the threat of Aguero. Kompany and Lescott had their date with Van Persie at the other end. However, Balotelli was not so lucky on the 38th minute, as his high boot caught Sagna as the Frenchman attempted to clear on the edge of the Arsenal box. The referee had had enough of the volatile Italian and he was duly cautioned.
The half ended with free-kicks and offsides been committed by both sides and Balotelli was left on his backside needing treatment, as others trudged into the dressing room.
To everyone’s surprise, Balotelli filed out with the team for the second 45 and he was sure to be walking a tight rope as the referee must have reviewed his own performance in the first half and realized Balotelli got away with several dangerous tackles. The game resumed with Aguero forcing a save off Shezzer, while Van Persie was caught offside yet again. Milner was cautioned for a foul on Rosicky and Arsenal used the opportunity to introduce Andre Santos for Gibbs on the 55th minute. As Santos was sent on to replace Gibbs at left-back and provide a more potent outlet down the left, his first involvement was to clear behind Verma and Kosher, after Citeh looked to play in Aguero. A stop start run by Balotelli down the Citeh right saw him hurled down by Santos and the Brazilian was booked for it, while even having a go at Balotelli as if to tell him he took a dive. The resultant free-kick was harmless and a dinking run from Benayoun saw him skip past two markers before shooting at Hart, who was comfortable in saving.
Arsenal kept on pushing forward and looked the most likely to score, though it was obvious that Citeh could hurt them on the counter. A late lunge on Pizzarro by Kosher meant the solid Frenchman picked up his 10th booking of the season which makes him miss the trip to Wolves and the visit of Wigan, a ban he would have avoided as he was only six hours away from his nine previous cards been wiped out.
Van Persie was unlucky to have drifted offside as he smartly beat a sliding Zabaletta and beat Hart, only for the linesman to pull play back for offside. Van Persie and Arsenal were unlucky yet again as a well timed ball from Song was met with a timely header by Van Persie, only for his header to cannon off the post. A low shot by Theo after fine work from Sagna saw Hart push the ball towards Verma in the box, whose rebound was blocked on the line, and Benayoun’s attempt from inside the Citeh’s six-yard box was blocked off onto the woodwork by Kompany.
Nervy times for Citeh and they escaped yet again with Van Persie’s short corner cleared by Zabaletta with Benayoun lurking with intent and the ball just over Verma’s head.
