Gunners fail big test

Manchester City 6-3 Arsenal

Serious questions were raised yet again about Arsenal’s title credentials on Saturday, following a truly humbling experience for the Gunners away to Manchester City.

Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing, but at the final whistle Wenger must surely have wished he could go back in time and set his team up differently. With Manchester City in such imperious form at home this season and having had the luxury of resting players in midweek, it was foolish of Wenger to decide to go toe to toe with Manuel Pellegrini’s side. This decision left Arsenal horribly exposed time and time again as City looked capable of scoring any time they pleased.

Although it is admirable that the manager has such great faith in his side and he truly believes on their day Arsenal can mix it with the best and beat any team put in front of them, there are times when a realistic and pragmatic approach is what’s needed. Wenger should have accepted that given the circumstances in the build up to the game, the Gunners should have been happy with a point at the Ethihad. Therefore, playing with Arteta alongside Flamini at the base of the midfield, to shield the back four would have made more sense. This would have provided Arsenal with more stability at the back and the manager could have then still deployed Walcott on the wing, Ozil behind Giroud and possibly Ramsey on the left flank to provide the Gunners with an attacking threat.

Instead, Wenger set up with Flamini as the sole holding midfield player, alongside the more attack minded Ramsey. Wilshere was deployed on the left, Walcott on the right and Ozil behind Giroud. Unfortunately, this meant Flamini was often left trying to cut out attack after attack as City dominated the midfield. Maybe Wenger had underestimated the sheer power of Yaya Toure and Fernandinho at the heart of Pellegrini’s side, believing that Arsenal’s passing ability in midfield would ensure they dominated this battle. After all, with City opting for two strikers, their midfield four would also be outnumbered by the Gunners five.

Unfortunately Arsenal’s superior numbers in this department did not mean a thing when the game began. In fact the Gunners were penned back in their own half for the entire opening ten minutes, with the tired Giroud largely ineffectual and unable to hold the ball up. It was therefore no big surprise when City took the lead in the 14^th minute of the game through Sergio Aguero. A corner from Nasri, saw Nacho Monreal get sucked in under the flight of the ball, at the near post, allowing Martin Demichelis to flick the ball towards the far post, where Koscielny was caught napping as Aguero stole in to fire a superb volley past Szczesny.

Having taken the lead, City were now in full control and sought to apply further pressure to the Arsenal defence with their best chance coming from the excellent Negredo. Vincent Kompany easily outmuscled Giroud on the halfway line, before surging forward and releasing an perfect through ball to Negredo who, under pressure, just fired wide of the near post. With only 30 minutes played, there already appeared to be only one winner of this contest. But then Arsenal equalised. It was a goal that came out of nothing. Toure dawdled on the ball and was robbed by Ramsey, who released Ozil on the edge of the box. The German showed great composure to pick out the advancing Walcott, whose scuffed effort hit the back of the net to restore parity.

However this did not last long as only eight minutes later, City retook the lead through Negredo. Toure was afforded far too much time and space just outside the penalty area and was therefore able to loft a wonderful pass straight into Zabaleta, who was also in acres of space and racing into the box. The City right back took one touch to control the pass and another to send a low ball across goal, to Negredo for the Spanish striker to tap home.

Although Arsenal had clearly been second best during the first half, with the score only 2-1, the Gunners were still in the game. Unfortunately, Wenger’s side began to capitulate almost as the second period began. Five minutes after the restart, Ozil’s pass to Flamini, was just too far in front of the Frenchman, allowing Fernandinho to collect the ball, surge through on goal and curl a shot around Szczesny and into the far corner to double City’s advantage. Strangely enough, this goal seemed to awaken the Gunners and in echoes of last season’s games against the top sides, Arsenal began to play some of their best football, once the game had seemingly gone out of sight. In fact the Gunners created a host of chances during this period, with Giroud twice going close and Zabaleta’s handball in the area going unpunished.

Then in the 63^rd minute, Ramsey’s clipped ball over the top of the City defence found Walcott in the box and the Englishman sent a wonderful shot into the top corner of the net to once again get Arsenal back into the game. Having dominated the last five minutes, the Gunners may well have been expecting to push on in search of a third, but City soon put an end to any ideas of an unlikely comeback, restoring their two goal advantage only three minutes later.

Jesus Navas managed to wriggle away from Monreal on the right flank and sent a low ball into the box. Vermaelen, who had come on in place of the injured Koscielny in the first half, inexplicably moved towards the by-line as the cross came in, rather than towards the only City player in the box, David Silva. As a result, the little Spaniard was allowed enough space to fire past Szczesny and put the game to bed. Such was the ease with which City moved through the gears as soon as they sensed their lead was under threat, it appeared as though they were simply toying with the Gunners, going in for the kill as and when they pleased.

Arsenal still tried to push forward even with the score at 4-2 and Wenger decided to go for broke, taking off Flamini and introducing Gnabry, which left the back four even more exposed than it had been. Still, Wilshere was unlucky to see a powerful long range effort tipped over the bar and Giroud was incorrectly ruled offside before slamming the ball home.

In the 88^th minute, City increased their lead further, as Wilshere was easily robbed of the ball by Nasri, who then passed the ball back to Fernandinho for the Brazilian to score his second of the day and make the score 5-2. Despite the clock ticking down, there was still enough time for two more goals, one headed effort from Mertesacker from Sagna’s cross and immediately after a penalty from Toure after Milner was brought down in the Box by Szczesny to make the final score 6-3.

Despite Wenger’s attempts to play down the significance of the result at the final whistle, this was a chastening experience for Arsenal. The sheer power of Manchester City simply overwhelmed them and the ease with which the home side sliced through the Gunners midfield and defence showed that City are on a different level to Arsenal. Wenger must now ensure that there is no hangover from this result and that the Gunners are ready to put on a performance against Chelsea. Another defeat at the hands of a title rival may just be one defeat too many.