With Chelsea having taken an easy 5-0 win over Swansea yesterday, Manchester City needed to rebound from last week’s 1-1 draw with Everton and take all three points today in order to keep pace with the league leaders. That was never going to be an easy task with Arsenal coming to town, as the Gunners have been on an excellent run of form lately in the Premier League and had climbed to the sixth spot in the league table entering the match at City’s Etihad Stadium.
City were buoyed by the return of Sergio Aguero to the first XI after the Argentinean striker had been out of action since December 6 due to a knee injury, and with questions being asked of Arsenal’s back line all season it seemed like City were in great shape even before the opening whistle.
After a quiet start to the game, however, it was Arsenal who got on the board first. A questionably-called foul in the box on City captain Vincent Kompany led to a 24th minute penalty kick, which Santi Cazorla stepped up and buried for a 1-0 Gunners lead:
City greatly upped their attack in the second half, and were nearly rewarded when a 60th minute Jesus Navas cross was deflected and nearly turned into his own net by Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny. Unfortunately for City, the ball flashed agonizingly wide of the post and the score remained 1-0.
Things went from bad to worse for the hosts just minutes later. Some atrocious defending by City allowed Olivier Giroud to run onto a Cazorla free kick and effortlessly nod it home for a 2-0 Arsenal advantage:
Cazorla was loving it, and the little Spaniard broke out some of his finest dance moves to celebrate:
The Gunners held on from there, securing three points and vaulting past Tottenham into the fifth spot in the Barclay’s Premier League table. They now trail fourth place Manchester United by just one point and third place Southampton by three, giving them a great shot at yet another Champions League berth as the season enters its latter stages.
This is another poor result from City, who after closing the gap and pulling into a virtual tie with league leaders Chelsea have taken just one point out of a possible six during their last two matches. Their next match is on the road against those same Blues, and City will need to manage at least a point if they want to have any hope of repeating as Premier League champions.
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