It looked to be another torturous performance from Arsenal, with constant movement and pretty passing, before making crucial mistakes just as you think that we'll score. There's not many more frustrating ways of spending a Saturday afternoon that I can think of at the moment.I'm not sure what it is about our new stadium, but it seems to attract performances of the highest calibre from any visiting goalkeeper. There has been no better example of this than two weeks ago, with Warner playing the game of his life, before dropping two clangers in the next two games before being dropped ahead of Fulham's game yesterday. And in young Kasper Schemeical, this pattern continued.
As expected, Man City were defensive but looked to counter attack with pace, and as expected, their defence were excellent once again. And it took around 80 minutes before the break through finally came. Up to that point it was a game of a very familiar kind for Arsenal - pass....pass....pass....pass....shoot....miss, or alternatively pass....pass....pass....pass....pass....pass....intercepted. So easy on the eye, but sooo frustrating from a supporters point of view. We went close several times in the first half, the most prominent chance falling to Robin van Persie who was inches away from connecting with a wonderful ball across the box from Fabregas. Man City continued to look dangerous on the break though, and Petrov spurned a shot high and wide, with Elano also messing up a good opportunity. To make things even more frustrating for Arsenal, Wenger was forced to play a half-fit Gilberto at centre half to cover Senderos who injured himself in the warm-up, and Bacary Sagna also limped out of the game, with Denilson coming on in his place and Flamini moving to an unfamiliar right back position.
In the second half Man City had their first and only period of play where they could be said to have "dominated", Petrov again going close and Almunia smothering a shot one-on-one with Mpenza,, but after that mini rebellion had subsided, Arsenal stepped up once again. Fabregas had a swirling shot parried by Schemeical, before a penalty, which seems an inevitability with Arsenal's movement off the ball at home, was awarded for a mis-judged Micah Richards penalty. But Robin van Persie, frustrated for so long in the game, was denied once more by City's defence, with Schemeical pulling off a perfect imitation of his father to save the Dutchman's spot kick.
But Man City simply couldn't hold on against the wave after wave of Arsenal forays. Cesc Fabregas was the hero on this occasion, with his second goal in two games for Arsenal, with an excellently taken goal. Receiving the ball in the middle, he fed Hleb on the right before sneaking into the penalty box, receiving the return ball from Hleb and firing an unstoppable shot past Schemeical from a tight angle to give Arsenal the win. There was even time after the Spaniard's passionate badge-kissing celebration to almost get another goal to give emphasis to the scoreline, Eduardo feeding Rosicky, who cut in and powered a strike at goal which could only be parried by Schemeical into Hleb's path, but the Belorussian's follow up attempt going agonisingly wide off the far post. This was the sort of game last season that we drew too many of, so it was heartening to see us pull through in the end. A job well done for the Gunners then ahead of their formality of a tie against Sparta Prague on Wednesday, Arsenal holding a 2-0 aggregate lead that should make it easy.
Full Time: Arsenal 1 - 0 Man City
Player Ratings:
Manuel Almunia – 6.5 – Nothing much to do, but when called upon didn't make any mistakes.
Bacary Sagna - N/A - Unfortunate injury happened too early to judge his performance.
Gilberto Silva - 5 - Uncomfortable performance in his wrong position, when he was only half fit. Sums it up really.
Kolo Toure – 6.5 – Not too bad, nothing special either though. Decent without any noticeable mistakes.
Gael Clichy – 6 – Final pass or cross needs to be improved upon, and had a pretty restrained perfomance overrall
Alexander Hleb – 7.5 – Poor first half, but his second 45 minutes more than made up for it. He was at the heart of almost all Arsenal's most dangerous moments in the second half.
Mathieu Flamini - 6.5 - I like his spirit and tenacity, even if his positional awareness at right back is clearly lacking, and understandably so.
Cesc Fabregas – 7.5 – Like Hleb, didn't do much until the second half, but he is the heartbeat of the team which shows in his 64 passes during the match. His goal was very well taken also and was fittingly created by the teamwork of the two best players for Arsenal.
Tomas Rosicky – 6 – Some great moments, some poor moments, inconsistency costing him a much better rating. Never really know what you're going to get from him to be honest.
Emmanuel Adebayor – 5 – He wasn't fit enough to start the game in my opinion, and because his whole playing style centres on his tireless running, he really couldn't get going yesterday.
Robin van Persie – 5 – Poor by his standards, frustrated by the City defence for the most part. He only looked dangerous when he dropped off, but even then he was picked up by Hamann and was prevented from ever playing to his potential. A suprisingly poor spot kick as well.
Subs:
Eduardo – 6 – Solid in the short time he played. Suprised he didn't start ahead of the half-fit Adebayor.
Denilson – 6.5 – Did well in midfield, always composed and relaxed enough, but perhaps could have picked up Elano a bit better than he did.
Song - N/A - Not on the pitch for long enough.
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