Changes followed from both bosses. Aaron Ramsey was sent on for Benayoun, while Aleksandar Kolarov came on for Nasri. Carlos Tevez also came on for the ineffective Aguero, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaced Walcott.
However, it was on the 87th minute that things took a turn for the worse for the title contenders, as Arteta found the back of the Citeh net from range.
A failed Arsenal attack down the right saw Clichy hooking the ball to Pizarro who was beaten to the ball by an onrushing Arteta and the princely Spaniard steadied himself and took a hard drive at Hart’s goal, with Kompany backing off. The goal brought Le Grove to its feet and the Arsenal fans rubbed it in by celebrating with the Posnar (a Man City celebration where the fans turn there backs and start jumping).
The game still had lots of incidents left in it, as a City attempt was cleared by Wojo in goal. Balotelli then chased down Sagna and hacked him down as Bac attempted to clear the loose ball. At that stage referee Atkinson had had enough of Balotelli, and he handed the Italian his marching orders. His lazy stroll out of the field was the second incident that angered Mancini after the Citeh boss was furious at his defence for allowing Arteta so much space for the goal.
Tevez was brought down by Kosher after an attempted surging run into the Arsenal box and the resultant free-kick was blocked by the Arsenal wall. Immediately, the ball broke for Santos who deftly released Rosicky down the left with Zabaletta catching him with his studs. Rosicky obliged by with a one-time outside of the boot flick to Ramsey who should have responded in kind by flicking the ball wide right to Ox-Chambo, who was free on the right flank. Ramsey chose to drive into the box and rather than pick out The Ox, or the arriving Van Persie, he took out the sliding Citeh defender and with only the keeper to beat from nine-yards out, The Welshman skied his shot into the stands. His captain was rightly mad at him, while Chambo protested as well. Talk about selfish play at its highest.
The game ended shortly after, leaving City eight points behind rivals Man United, who previously won at lunch time by a two goal margin against QPR. The victory for Arsenal though saw them leapfrog Spurs back into third place.
On our manager’s performances on the day, I would give kudos to Wenger for rightly benching Ramsey for a more creative and experienced Benayoun, while his move to remove Gibbs and bring on Santos proved a better option, as the Brazilian had more to offer going forward. On Theo though, I felt he left it too late, because Clichy was comfortable dealing with him all day except on a few occasions. Chambo would have been more of a handful for Clichy, as he had more trickery and skill to beat his man than Theo, while possessing the speed to trouble Clichy as well.
At least Wenger will start to see how lame Ramsey is and he would duly relegate him to the bench as a mere squad player. Overall, I would rate Wenger a 7/10 on the day.
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