Line-ups:
Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Pantilimon; Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy; Fernandinho, Touré; Silva (Milner, 71), Aguero (Navas, 49), Nasri Garcia, 90); Negredo.
Arsenal (4-4-1-1): Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny (Vermaelen, 42), Monreal; Ramsey, Flamini (Gnabry, 72), Wishere, Walcott; Özil; Giroud (Bendtner, 76).
Referee: Martin Atkinson.
Man of the match: Fernandinho (Manchester City)
Match rating: 9/10
Sergio Aguero’s sublime volley put them behind after Monreal’s failure to track Martin Dimichelis’s 20-yard cross-field ball proved crucial, as the Argentinian flicked on Nasri’s corner into Aguero’s line of fire. There were brief incursions into home territory from Mathieu Flamini but passes were misplaced, players outpowered and there was no attacking width. Sagna is capable of delivering a beautiful cross, but the first one of any danger, headed narrowly wide by Olivier Giroud, came an hour into the match.
The Mesut Özil threat flickered intermittently, but there was no getting the ball through to him. Arsenal had barely threatened before Ramsey pounced on a rare Touré moment of indecision and did manage to feed Ozil, who levelled for Theo Walcott to place a shot deflected in by Dimchelis’s attempted diving header on the half-hour.
Arsenal showed some resilience, and substitute Nicklas Bendtner’s goal was wrongly ruled offside just before Sagna crossed for Mertesacker to head in Arsenal’s third. But Milner, skipping around Wojciech Szczesny, drew the penalty which Touré converted for City’s sixth.
Vincent Kompany, poised and aggressive, was massively influential throughout. His languid feint past Ramsey in the first half was just one of his vignettes. He is another player lifted to new levels by Pellegrini.
Jack Wilshere’s finger gesture threatened to dominate the post-match narrative, though in the scheme of things it is an insignificance. The story is City’s. They have amassed 16 goals in thumping Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. It is not even the season’s halfway mark, but we can say with impunity that they will take some stopping.
0 comments:
Post a Comment