Manchester City fall to Arsenal at Home

Manchester City 0-2 Arsenal – Match Report

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy; Fernandinho (Lampard, 63), Fernando; Navas (Dzeko, 76), Silva, Milner (Jovetic, ht); Aguero.

Arsenal (4-3-3): Ospina; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey (Flamini, 84), Coquelin, Cazorla; Oxlade-Chamberlain (Rosicky, 66), Giroud, Sanchez (Gibbs, 84).

Arsene Wenger’s boys finally got their first victory against the big boys in almost 25 games as they defeated defending champions Manchester City 2-0 at Etihad. Goals from Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud were enough for the Londoners to knock city out cold in their own backyard.

The victory was more unlike Arsenal in many ways. For a first, the defense was organized throughout the ninety minutes along with that they were also aggressive off the ball as well as while tackling. This unsettled the City team as they were completely surprised by what hit them.

Arsenal took lead in 23rd minute as Santi Cazorla converted the spot kick after Vincent Kompany fouled Olivier Giroud in the box. The penalty was a soft one but there was enough contact to sway referee’s mind. As soon as the hosts conceded, all hell broke loose. City started to pummel Arsenal from then on till the very last minute albeit without much success.

This aggressive approach was a failure due to non-existence of their two most creative players in David Silva and Kun Aguero. The trend continued in second half as well and one player benefitted from this frenzy. It was that little Spaniard in the middle of the park, Santi Cazorla. He found acres of space in the midfield and exploited it to the maximum. Finally, Olivier Giroud’s header on the back of Cazorla’s free-kick in 66th minute to settle the game for once and all.

MOTM – Santi Cazorla.