Manchester City v Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened
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http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2015/jan/18/manchester-city-v-arsenal-premier-league-live Version 0 of 1. 5.54pm GMT17:54 Do not adjust your screen - Arsenal have won away at Manchester City, who are five points behind Chelsea, thanks to the perfect away performance. Goals from Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud won it for them and how they deserved it. They squeezed the life out of an anaemic City, in particular David Silva, and played with maturity, discipline and authority, defending well and attacking at the right moments. This is the blueprint Arsenal must follow in these games from now on. Maybe a team of son-in-laws isn’t so bad, after all. Thanks for reading. Bye. 5.51pm GMT17:51 Full-time: Manchester City 0-2 Manchester City That’s your lot! Updated at 5.53pm GMT 5.49pm GMT17:49 90 min+1: There will be four minutes of added time. City’s unbeaten run is going to end here. 5.48pm GMT17:48 90 min: Flamini - Flamini! - pops up behind Clichy and outmuscles the City left-back inside the City area. He looks set to roll it across to Giroud for a tap-in, but it’s diverted behind for a corner. Giroud is aghast. 5.46pm GMT17:46 89 min: Aguero wins City’s 16th corner. Kompany heads it wide at the near post. 5.44pm GMT17:44 88 min: Dzeko’s shot from an angle is held comfortably by Ospina. 5.42pm GMT17:42 86 min: Aguero is booked for tugging back Kieran Gibbs. 5.42pm GMT17:42 85 min: Koscielny slices a clearance from Clichy’s cross over his own bar. Do City have anything left in the tank? No. Updated at 5.42pm GMT 5.41pm GMT17:41 84 min: Tomas Rosicky dribbles and dribbles and dribbles and then wafts a shot over the bar. That’s the cue for Arsenal to bring on Kieran Gibbs for Alexis Sanchez and Mathieu Flamini for Aaron Ramsey. 5.39pm GMT17:39 82 min: Ramsey is down with knackerdness. He drags himself off the floor eventually to defend a City corner. 5.37pm GMT17:37 80 min: A set of lobs and prods on the edge of the Arsenal area works Jovetic behind the Arsenal back four, but his snapshot is deflected just wide. Ospina claims Silva’s corner. 5.34pm GMT17:34 76 min: Cazorla is in excellent form. He wins a tackle on the edge of the Arsenal box and then embarrasses a sequence of Arsenal players with flicks, tricks and nutmegs, before throwing himself into one last whole-hearted tackle, which ends with a City throw. Edin Dzeko comes on for Jesus Navas. 5.31pm GMT17:31 74 min: Almost a calamitous moment for Arsenal. Lampard dinks a harmless box into the six-yard box, where indecision reigns. Ospina comes and Monreal should leave it to him; instead he slices a volley just over the empty goal. 5.30pm GMT17:30 73 min: The ball falls to Navas in the Arsenal area. He shoots straight at Ospina and the crowd howls. They don’t sound particularly enamoured with the Spanish winger. 5.29pm GMT17:29 72 min: Alexis Sanchez scoots past Lampard and tries to place a shot to Hart’s left from 20 yards. Hart parries it away. 5.28pm GMT17:28 71 min: What is it about this City team that makes them so prone to these bouts of lethargy? 5.25pm GMT17:25 68 min: This is the third consecutive home match in the league in which City have conceded twice. 5.24pm GMT17:24 GOAL! Manchester City 0-2 Arsenal (Giroud, 66 min) Victory is in sight for Arsenal! Just before Rosicky came on, they won a free-kick around 40 yards from goal. Cazorla curled it into the City area and Giroud peeled away from Fernando and glanced a lowe header past the exposed Joe Hart from close range! Updated at 5.47pm GMT 5.22pm GMT17:22 66 min: Tomas Rosicky replaces Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Arsenal. 5.21pm GMT17:21 64 min: Lampard is immediately involved, finding Zabaleta, but his cross is easily claimed by Ospina. 5.20pm GMT17:20 63 min: Jovetic skips past Bellerin and wins a corner, which is the cue for Frank Lampard to replace Fernandinho. 5.18pm GMT17:18 61 min: Frank Lampard will be on imminently. 5.17pm GMT17:17 60 min: City can’t believe they’re not level. The probing Silva rolls a pass to Navas and his low ball just takes a nick off Koscielny and evades Aguero and Jovetic, both of whom were waiting for a tap-in. 5.16pm GMT17:16 59 min: City scream hopefully for handball against Ramsey. It was his chest that blocked Jovetic’s pass. 5.13pm GMT17:13 56 min: There may be joy for Arsenal on the break. It’s end-to-end now. They pour forward and Sanchez and Giroud interchange beautifully, before the latter squeezes a pass to Ramsey on the left. He slashes high and wide from an inviting position. That attack over, Hector Bellerin is booked for an earlier foul on Silva. 5.11pm GMT17:11 54 min: Fernandinho is booked for stopping an Arsenal counter. “Enough about Chelsea, Jacob,” orders Henry Watts. “City and Arsenal fans couldn’t care less about Chelsea.” Too right, Henry, talking about City’s title rivals is utterly unacceptable. 5.10pm GMT17:10 53 min: Sanchez turns brilliantly away from Zabaleta but then gets carried away and tries to score from a difficult angle. Throw-in to City. Updated at 5.30pm GMT 5.09pm GMT17:09 51 min: City break at a furious pace, Fernando feeding Navas on the right. He runs at Monreal and hammers a shot goalwards. Opsina beats it away. But Arsenal are rocking. Silva diddles into the area. He’s halted. But the ball breaks to Jovetic. He misses his kick. To Fernandinho, then. His volley is deflected over. The corner is cleared. Just. “I think the Arsenal were better off going in at halftime only 1-0 up,” says William Marzouk. “At 2-0 it’s too easy to switch off, invite pressure, etc. 1-0 is nice and taught. B/t/w that’s Bully down there! (the oft pierced gentleman).” The Arsenal Pirate. 5.06pm GMT17:06 49 min: There’s a better tempo to City’s football now. Arsenal are going to have to have their game faces on. “It’s all going far too well for Arsenal,” says Charles Antaki. “But what price their two yellow cards being converted to reds before the evening is out? Even this somnolent Man City side ought to score against 9 men, if only by accident.” 5.05pm GMT17:05 48 min: The corner is taken short. Navas’s cross is cleared. Moments later, the ball is lost in a dangerous position and falls to Aguero. His shot from the edge of the area is blocked. “On one level, Arsenal wearing their away kit unnecessarily is a disgrace, but we (Arsenal fans) shouldn’t complain too much given that these presumably contract-stipulated diktats from Puma lead to the deal which has allowed us to sign the likes of Sanchez, who is pleasingly good at doing football,” says Angus Chisholm. “And, is it just me, but is Bellerin also quite good at doing football? (albeit in a different way).” 5.04pm GMT17:04 47 min: City are already better. Aguero dashes down the right and cuts inside before letting fly. It takes a deflection and whooshes past the far post. Corner. 5.03pm GMT17:03 46 min: We’re off. Stevan Jovetic has replaced James Milner for City. That’s the right change. “Even taking into consideration Chelsea’s form so far i think it’s a bit too early to make comments such as “this could be the afternoon the title slipped away for good” - 5 points gap, 16 matches to go (provided City lose), i guess you can sense my argument...” says Oliver Loksa. City go to Chelsea soon. Lose there and it’s eight points. Chelsea have got most of their difficult away games out of the way. Their manager is Jose Mourinho. 4.47pm GMT16:47 Half-time: Manchester City 0-1 Arsenal Arsenal deal with one last Manchester City corner before Mike Dean gives it a toot of his whistle. Arsenal have been professional and resilient in a big away game and deservedly lead thanks to Santi Cazorla’s penalty. If City don’t rouse themselves sharpish, this could be the afternoon the title slipped away for good. As it stands, Chelsea will be five points clear. Updated at 4.55pm GMT 4.45pm GMT16:45 45 min: “Is it irrelevant to complain that Arsenal are wearing their change kit (Michael Thomas throwback version) for no reason aside from trying to get people to buy replicas of it?” says Lou Roper. It’s not as bad as West Ham’s special purple FA Cup kit. 4.43pm GMT16:43 43 min: City should take off one of Navas or Milner and get Stevan Jovetic on. This is too easy for Arsenal. 4.42pm GMT16:42 42 min: Cazorla whips the subsequent free-kick into the City area; Giroud heads wide. 4.42pm GMT16:42 41 min: It’s not been a great first half for Vincent Kompany, who doesn’t look that fit. Giroud is able to muscle Zabaleta and then pluck the ball out of the sky, before drifting past Kompany, who brings him down and earns a booking. Kompany is livid. 4.40pm GMT16:40 40 min: A high ball is popped over Monreal for Navas to chase. Navas’s cross is deflected behind for a corner by Monreal, working back hard. Arsenal deal with a couple of crosses into the box, though they’re just looking a little more frantic at the moment. 4.37pm GMT16:37 38 min: Ramsey is booked for a trip on Aguero in the middle. 4.35pm GMT16:35 36 min: And it comes to nothing. Sanchez heads away. City attack again, however, Clichy zapping a low cross into the area. Cleared. It comes to Milner. His floaty cross is harmlessly headed wide by Aguero. Updated at 4.36pm GMT 4.35pm GMT16:35 35 min: Aguero’s persistence earns a corner for City on the right. He won it out of nothing. 4.34pm GMT16:34 34 min: “Why are Arsenal so disciplined all of a sudden?” says JR in Illinois. “Why aren’t their defensive players running around like headless chickens? Very disappointing. And boring.” Bring back the silliness, Arsenal, it’s what the people want. 4.32pm GMT16:32 32 min: Sam Allardyce would sort this City lot out at half-time. 4.31pm GMT16:31 31 min: Arsenal are threatening to play City off the park here. Jose Mourinho will be enjoying this. 4.29pm GMT16:29 29 min: A stat flashes up on the screen: City have not had a shot on target yet. “Perhaps it is just the television production in the US, but it seems like the atmosphere is rather flat at the Etihad for the visit of a top-four rival,” says Daniel Schulwolf. “I get that Arsenal haven’t recently been competitive on road trips to other top teams, but at this point the fans are treating the occasion with all the nonchalance of a Champions League match.” 4.27pm GMT16:27 27 min: Arsenal smell blood. Aaron Ramsey charges through the middle but hangs on to the ball too long and by the time he releases it, Giroud is offside. 4.26pm GMT16:26 25 min: Will that be the wake-up call City need? They aren’t offering much at all. There’s a lack of creativity in the central positions. 4.25pm GMT16:25 GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Arsenal (Cazorla pen, 24 min) Santi Cazorla gave Arsenal the lead from the spot at West Ham. Can he do the same here? He can! It’s a brilliant penalty. Hart went the right way but Cazorla’s effort, crisply struck with his right foot and high into the corner, was far too accurate! Arsenal lead. Who’d have thought? 4.23pm GMT16:23 PENALTY TO ARSENAL 23 min: Arsenal have been causing problems down the left and now they’ve got their reward! Nacho Monreal looked to play a one-two and was dumped over by Kompany before he could get to the return ball! Mike Dean points to the spot immediately. Updated at 4.39pm GMT 4.21pm GMT16:21 21 min: Neville has noticed that Silva is being marked out of the game. Francis Coquelin may well be the new Makelele. 4.20pm GMT16:20 19 min: The corner is driven in high by Cazorla and headed into the air and into the six-yard box. It should be Hart’s, easily, but he seems unsettled by the presence of Mertesacker and punches it away. The home fans are unamused. 4.19pm GMT16:19 18 min: Sanchez attempts a solo burst through the middle. He beats one or two men, but he’s halted by Demichelis, as so many have been in the past. Moments later, a chance for Giroud. Oxlade-Chamberlain seizes on to a sloppy pass on the right and drives forward, before knocking a cross to the near post. Giroud heads wide, but claims a corner off Kompany. After much consultation, a corner is awarded. 4.15pm GMT16:15 15 min: I can never quite work out how highly to rate Jesus Navas. Here, he ruins a promising attack with a poor pass that Coqeulin cuts out. He has the raw materials and is a threat, but the end product is lacking at times. 4.13pm GMT16:13 13 min: Not much is occurring. Arsenal are keeping City quiet. 4.12pm GMT16:12 11 min: Arsenal enjoy a decent spell of pressure and Cazorla threads an astute pass inside Zabaleta and through to Sanchez on the left. With little support in the middle, however, he ends up taking too long and loses it to Zabaleta. Updated at 4.29pm GMT 4.09pm GMT16:09 8 min: Arsenal have settled down a bit now. Their shape is nice and compact. Then it’s a case of whether they can use the pace of The Sanch and The Ox on the break. 4.06pm GMT16:06 6 min: “Congrats on the West Ham result,” says Allan Castle. “Against my better judgment I’m up early here on Vancouver Island to watch Arsenal get clobbered against a top team again. But the power’s out! So my link to the game is solely your MBM, as long as my lady’s iPhone battery holds out (mine’s dead). What chance we turn the tide today?” There’s always a chance. It’s a slim chance. But it is a chance. 4.05pm GMT16:05 5 min: A neat, zippy start from City. They’re moving the ball proficiently. 4.03pm GMT16:03 3 min: Arsenal have started badly. They’re not tracking runners. Fernandinho moves away from Cazorla and then beats Koscielny, who dumps him over. Advantage is played, however, because Aguero is clear on the right. He delays crossing, however, and eventually settles for a corner. Before that can be taken, Koscielny is booked for his rashness. Then the corner is headed away. 4.02pm GMT16:02 2 min: “Here in Chile I can tell you that my mate (with the big telly) didn’t make it home from a wedding last night so I shall be with you here on MBM,” says Henry Buckle. Henry, you’re going to have to keep us updated about your mate with the big telly. Did he take it with him to the wedding? 4.00pm GMT16:00 And we’re off! But not before Gary Neville pre-emptively tells Arsenal off for making mistakes in big games. Then City, all in blue, get the ball rolling. They’re kicking from left to right in the first half. Obviously Arsenal are wearing their yellow away kits. Because red clashes with blue. Obviously, 3.57pm GMT15:57 Here come the teams! They’re both wearing tracksuit tops. Updated at 4.13pm GMT 3.49pm GMT15:49 When did Graeme Souness grow his beard? Has he done it to take attention away from Henry? 3.48pm GMT15:48 BREAKING NEWS Words are coming out of Thierry Henry’s mouth. 3.47pm GMT15:47 “Spine-Chilean drama then?” says Patrick Cullen. “I’ll get my things, I was heading out anyway...” 3.40pm GMT15:40 Fans of spooky thrillers - your attention please. Manuel Pellegrini is Chilean. Alexis Sanchez ... is Chilean. It is written. Pellegrini to score the winner. 3.38pm GMT15:38 “The Fernando and Fernandinho partnership in City’s midfield evoke wonderful memories of alliterative duos of the past - not excluding the classic Renee and Renato,” notes Charles Antaki. Or Cheech and Chong. Updated at 3.39pm GMT 3.25pm GMT15:25 So what does it all mean? For City, Martin Demichelis starts alongside Vincent Kompany instead of Eliaquim Mangala, while Fernando and Fernandinho are at the base of midfield, with Yaya Toure not available. Samir Nasri is also out, but Sergio Aguero is back; he’ll be supported by James Milner, David Silva and Jesus Navas. Frank Lampard is still trying to work out how to get to New York and will spend much of the game mulling that conundrum over while sitting on the bench, before coming on in the 67th minute and scoring twice. As for Arsenal, Mathieu Debuchy’s shoulder injury keeps him out. Hector Bellerin starts instead of Calum Chambers at right-back, while Nacho Monreal gets the nod over Kieran Gibbs at left-back and Aaron Ramsey starts for the first time since 9 December, replacing Tomas Rosicky. Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil are on the bench. Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere and Mikel Arteta are all missing. So’s Abou Diaby. 3.20pm GMT15:20 The teams! Man City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy; Fernandinho, Fernando; Jesus Navas, Silva, Milner; Aguero. Subs: Sagna, Dzeko, Kolarov, Caballero, Lampard, Mangala, Jovetic. Arsenal: Ospina; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Coquelin, Cazorla; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud, Sanchez. Subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Rosicky, Ozil, Walcott, Flamini, Chambers. Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) Updated at 3.21pm GMT 3.00pm GMT15:00 Preamble Afternoon. So. Let’s get straight to it. Arsenal. Arsenal in a big away game. What will it be? Are they going to do something out of character and surprise for us or, as many people suspect, will it be the usual nonsense whenever they travel to one of their rivals? Graeme Souness thinks so, earlier decrying them as a team of son-in-laws on Sky, and not even a fun son-in-law like Phil Dunphy. He just thinks they’re very nice, that there’s not enough edge, and that’s borne out by their record in this type of game. Last season it was 6-0 at Chelsea, 6-3 at Manchester City, 5-1 at Liverpool, 3-0 at Everton and even 1-0 at Manchester United, while this year it’s 2-0 at Chelsea, 2-0 at Southampton and 2-0 at Borussia Dortmund, while there have also been defeats at Swansea City and Stoke City. They were also poor in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool, conceding a last-minute equaliser from a corner against 10 men, although they did win impressively at West Ham last month. We know what the problems are: an unfortunate tendency to commit horrendous defensive errors at inopportune moments, a susceptibility to being caught on the break, doziness at set-pieces and a general impression that, quite simply, they are not hard to play against. They play good football, as Arsene Wenger’s teams do, but there is never the sense that they particularly relish the other side of it, that important bit about stopping the other lot doing whatever they like. I think Arsenal will score today. They have Alexis Sanchez in rampant form and they have given City problems in attack. But do they have enough about them to stop City scoring, well, more? Yaya Toure is away and Samir Nasri is out, but Sergio Aguero is back and City, five points behind Chelsea, are bound to be bang up for this. Kick-off: 4pm. |