City cruise as Gunners lose

Arsenal slumped to their fifth league defeat of the season as they lost 3-0 at Manchester City.

Arsenal fall to their fifth league defeat of the season at Eastlands

Arsene Wenger will have woken up on Saturday morning feeling his week could not get any worse. By the end of Saturday afternoon he had realised it could and had, as Arsenal left Manchester City with a 3-0 defeat and their fading title aspirations in tatters. Arsenal, with their motor-mouth captain William Gallas left in the capital to brood, were insipid throughout against a City side that were barely better themselves, prior to Stephen Ireland opening the scoring in first half injury time. There was more than a dose of fortune about the build-up to Ireland's opener, as he was afforded possession by Gael Clichy and Mikael Silvestre's best impression of the Keystone Cops, but nothing lucky about his sublime dinked effort over Manuel Almunia from close range. After the interval City swarmed all over Arsenal in great swathes of blue, which drowned a despondent side now surely out of the title race. Robinho doubled City's advantage when from the excellent Shaun-Wright Phillips' perfectly weighted through ball, he found an impudent lobbed finish that was worth every penny of his £30million+ price tag. Wenger looked downbeat on the sidelines; his young charges desperate beyond it, as City substitute Daniel Sturridge dug the knife in deeper as he converted a last minute penalty he had won off Johan Djourou.

Missing stars

Arsenal went into this match without the likes of Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor as well as Gallas and it showed. City almost took the lead in the 27th minute after a flowing move, which was started by Wright-Phillips. He sent Darius Vassell clear and Benjani Mwaruwari got a touch to his cross at the back post, only to deflect his effort wide. Robin van Persie then needed brief treatment six minutes later after being left winded following a challenge from Vincent Kompany. Arsenal almost took the lead from the free-kick with Joe Hart - who had made a quick recovery from an ankle injury - beating away Samir Nasri's shot. The ball broke to Nicklas Bendtner and he cleverly hooked it back to Alex Song. He was clear on goal but sent his effort wide from close range. Ireland then went on a surging run but there was no one on hand to help him out and Almunia mopped up with ease. There was a tense, nervous edge to this game, which meant little entertainment for the supporters as half-time approached. Benjani got on the end of a cross from Wright-Phillips in stoppage time but he sent his header wide. Immediately afterwards Ireland took advantage of a mix-up between Clichy and Silvestre to put the home side ahead. He clipped the ball over Almunia to give City the boost they required going into the second half.

Ireland opener

Arsenal were clearly rattled at going behind and Abou Diaby skipped forward in the 47th minute, only to fire wide of the post. Four minutes later Van Persie saw his free-kick ruffle the side netting after Micah Richards had been penalised for a challenge on the Dutchman. City, however, responded and extended their lead with a magnificent goal from Robinho in the 57th minute after some superb work from Wright-Phillips. The England midfielder won the ball off Van Persie in the middle of the park before releasing a perfect through ball for Robinho. The Brazilian showed a cool head as Almunia advanced to lob the ball over the goalkeeper for his ninth goal of the season. This was now a test of character for Arsenal and Bendtner should have pulled a goal back four minutes later. He latched on to a ball from substiutute Aaron Ramsey but his weak shot was easily parried by Hart. Robinho then sent a close-range header wide of the post before finding the net again only for his effort to be ruled out for offside. Arsenal kept pushing forward and Denilson tried his luck in the 76th minute.

City rampant

Robinho almost made it 3-0 three minutes later when he latched on to a ball from substitute Elano. He took it around Almunia only for Djourou to clear his effort off the line. Van Persie then found the net after clipping the ball out of Hart's hand but it was disallowed. Sturridge completed the rout in stoppage time from the penalty spot after being upended by Djourou to add to Arsenal's misery.

Manchester City	Team Statistics	Arsenal
3	Goals	0
1	1st Half Goals	0
7	Shots on Target	4
5	Shots off Target	7
2	Blocked Shots	2
3	Corners	3
18	Fouls	14
7	Offsides	1
0	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
69.2	Passing Success	83.5
41	Tackles	19
73.2	Tackles Success	57.9
33.9	Possession	66.1
46.7	Territorial Advantage	53.3