Arsenal

Arsenal 2 – 0 Manchester City

by
Steven Goran Eriksson
6 April 2009

Arsenal delivered a footballing lesson to Man City today at the Emirates Stadium as they ran out comfortable winners in the Premier League match, courtesy of a brace of goals from the returning Togo striker Emanuel Adebayor. The home side outclassed the Blues from the first whistle to the last, and if anything, the scoreline flattered City, who offered a very limited attacking threat, with only occasional shots troubling Manuel Almunia. The result now extends City’s win-less run away to Arsenal to 34 years, since their last victory in 1975, and leaves the Blues with just a solitary win on their travels this season, way back in August.

The Citizens’ defeat, coupled with a win against Sunderland for West Ham, leaves the Blues in tenth place and six points behind the Hammers in the race for seventh position which would guarantee European football next year. Of course, City could still attain this dream, but only by miraculously winning the UEFA Cup, which resumes on Thursday when they travel to Germany to face Hamburg. The Gunners retain fourth place, and with Aston Villa not playing until tomorrow, they have opened up a six point advantage over their closest challengers.

Fabregas was instrumental in Arsenal’s victory, setting up both goals for Adebayor

Team News

The Blues had suffered a number of injuries during the international week, and their misery was compounded in training on Thursday when Stephen ‘Superman’ Ireland picked up a nasty ankle injury which ruled him out of this game, and renders him doubtful for the trip to Germany. Blues boss Mark Hughes resorted back to his favoured Christmas tree formation for away matches, with injury doubt Vincent Kompany partnering Nigel de Jong and Pablo Zabaleta in defensive midfield. Wayne Bridge was restored to the starting line-up after seemingly recovering from his knock, whilst Craig Bellamy replaced Bulgarian striker Valeri Bojinov. There were also welcome returns on the bench for long-term absentees Benjani Mrawurawi and Daniel Sturridge, the latter of whom scored against the Gunners in the fixture at the City of Manchester Stadium back in November.

The Gunners were handed a huge pre-match boost with the return of inspirational captain Cesc Fabregas to the squad, whilst Adebayor and Theo Walcott also started for the first time in a while. Alex ‘Sing’ Song was given a starting berth (sorry Plattsy) in midfield, where he was joined by Fabregas, Denilson, Walcott and Andrey Arshavin. Danish striker Niclas ‘Couldn’t Score in a Brothel’ Bendtner was named on the bench, where he was partnered by former Man United utility defender and light bulb look-a-like Mikael Silvestre.

A light bulb …………………… and Mikael Silvestre

City Line-Up (4-3-2-1)

Given

Richards Dunne Onuoha Bridge

Zabaleta de Jong Kompany

SWP Robinho

Bellamy

Subs: Hart, Garrido, Fernandes, Elano, Sturridge, Benjani, Bojinov

Report

Against all odds, it was City who started the stronger and Craig Bellamy, keen to prove a point after his outburst with Wales, created the first opportunity just five minutes into the game, when a foray down the left resulted in a rare shot by Dutch midfielder ‘Nifty Nige’ de Jong, which Manuel Almunia pounced upon with a sprawling dive. With criticism ringing in his ears following a series of sub-standard performances, Robinho was keen to prove his doubters wrong, and rather remarkably, it was his willingness to track back that caused City’s downfall, and gave Arsenal their first goal with just eight minutes on the clock. The Brazilian raced back to help Wayne Bridge in dealing with the dodgy-barneted (see picture at bottom) Bacary Sagna on the right wing, but in his eagerness to provide support, Robinho was adjudged to have fouled the French full-back. Referee Howard Webb awarded a free-kick to the Gunners, and Cesc Fabreags swung over a delightful cross, directly onto the head of Adebayor, who, unmarked, buried his header between Shay Given and de Jong into the goal.

Fabregas puts over the cross for Adebayor’s first goal

City were dealt a major blow after seventeen minutes, when a recurrence of a hamstring injury forced off left-back Wayne Bridge. Despite a natural replacement on the bench in the form of Spaniard Javier ‘Have I Told You That I Met His Parents?’ Garrido, Mark Hughes turned instead to Swiss “footballer” Gelson Fernandes, thus pushing Pablo Zabaleta into an unaccustomed left-back role. If anyone out there can name a worse Premier League footballer than Fernandes, I will be very, very surprised.

The Gunners sensed City’s frailties and pressed on the accelerator, as first Kolo Touré and then Andrei Arshavin went close, only to be denied by the brilliance of Given. City then enjoyed a couple of moments of their own, notably when SWP turned Gael Clichy on the halfway line, stormed forward and played a delightful pass into the path of the onrushing Micah Richards, who saw his powerful shot saved by Manuel Almunia. On the half hour mark, City, or more to the point, Fernandes, wasted the best chance of their afternoon. After some more good work by SWP on the right, he fed in the Swiss international, who was given the freedom of the Arsenal box, and with only Almunia to beat, a goal looked a certainty. Alas no! Thanks to his total lack of positional awareness, Fernandes failed to realise how much time he had, and instead snatched at the shot, pushing it wide, and letting Arsenal off the hook.

Hughes was soon forced into another change of personnel as Vincent Kompany hobbled off to be replaced by creative midfielder Elano, and it was the substitute who fired wide soon after when set up by Robinho. Howard Webb blew the half-time whistle shortly afterwards, and it was the Gunners who were the happier at the halfway stage.

Arsenal started the second period with real intent, and it took them only three minutes to score the goal which settled the contest. As expected, it was captain Fabregas who set it up, courtesy of a majestic chip over Richard Dunne, leaving Adebayor with the simple task of rounding Given and slotting into the empty net. That goal knocked the stuffing out of City and set the wheels in motion for a Robinho strop. Up until this point, the Brazilian had been fairly good, showing desire and commitment, but now, with the tide turned against him, he resorted to the type of display that has unfortunately become commonplace away from home.

Adebayor rounds Given and then celebrates with his Angel of the North impression

The rest of the game petered out to an extent, and only wayward shots from William Gallas and Theo Walcott relieved the boredom. Danny Sturridge came on for Robinho, but as the final whistle went, Mark Hughes will be more concerned with all the injury doubts for City’s next match; the midweek trip to Hamburg.

Key Battles

Gael Clichy ‘v’ Shaun Wright-Phillips

SWP looked a threat whenever he had the ball, but unfortunately for City, this wasn’t often enough. At one point in the first half, he turned the French full-back on the halfway line before slipping in Micah Richards, but he was often isolated out wide. Clichy was a threat going forward and handled his defensive duties with aplomb, so for this key battle, the winner is Clichy.

Denilson ‘v’ Elano

Disappointingly, Elano didn’t start the game, but he came on in the first-half for injury victim Vincent Kompany. He was largely ineffective and his normally exemplary passing was regularly astray, whereas Denilson had a confident game, snuffing out any City danger and displaying his full arsenal (hahaha) of talent, so the winner is Denilson.

Andrey ‘No Giggles’ Arshavin ‘v’ Nedum Onuoha

Arshavin played in an almost free role and was seemingly given license to thrill. He was a constant threat with his skill and trickery, causing a plethora of problems for Micah Richards especially, and although Onuoha looked fairly solid alongside Richard Dunne in dealing with any trouble, the winner is Arshavin.

Sagna: not the most fashionable of hairstyles