- Ireland (45), Robinho (56), Sturridge (90 pen)
- Date:2008-11-22
- Kick-off:15:00
- Venue:City of Manchester Stadium
- Attendance:44878
- Referee:Wiley, A
Live Commentary
90mins
Full Time: MAN CITY 3-0 ARSENAL. It's all over at Eastlands. An easy win in the end for City as the troubles continue for Arsene Wenger and his young Arsenal side.
90mins
MAN CITY 3-0 ARSENAL. STURRIDGE dusts himself off and steps up to blast the ball past Almunia. Its a nightmare afternoon for Arsenal.
90mins
Daniel Sturridge comes on for Benjani. There will be four minutes of stoppage time.
87mins
Van Persie cheekily nicks the ball out of Joe Harts hands as he looked to kick clear. The Dutchman then put the ball in the net but the referee blew for a foul.
86mins
Song is booked for what looked like a rugby tackle on Hamann.
85mins
City keeper Joe Hart is yet to make a save this half as Arsenal looked resigned to defeat.
81mins
Dietmar Hamann comes on for the limping Robinho.
76mins
A great through ball from Elano to Robinho who rounds Alumina but his shot is cleared off the line by Djourou. Arsenal looked shell shocked.
73mins
City are full of confidence now. Benjani has a chance to make it 3-0 following a goal mouth scramble but he skews his shot wide.
71mins
A huge cheer from the home fans as crowd favourite Elano comes on for Vassell.
69mins
Carlos Vela is on for Diaby as Arsenal look to get back into the game.
66mins
A lucky escape for Arsenal, Robinho puts the ball in the net again only for the flag to go up for offside.
61mins
Chance for Arsenal as Bendtner gets free in the City box but his shot is well saved by Joe Hart.
59mins
Aaron Ramsey comes on for Arsenal replacing Gavin Hoyte.
56mins
MAN CITY 2-0 ARSENAL. Lovely finish from ROBINHO as he collects a Wright-Phillips throughball and lifts his shot over Almunia. More problems for Arsene Wenger
50mins
Van Persie takes a free kick and tries to catch Joe Hart out at his near post but his effort hits the side netting.
48mins
There must have been some frank words exchanged in the Arsenal dressing room at half time because the Gunners are showing much more urgently this half.
46mins
We are underway again at Eastlands
45mins
Half-Time: MAN CITY 1-0 ARSENAL. The Gunners barely had time to kick-off before Alan Wiley blows for half-time.
45mins
MAN CITY 1-0 ARSENAL. IRELAND breaks into the box and evades the colliding Clichy and Silvestre before coolly lift the ball over the advancing Almunia.
43mins
Diaby sums up the half as he lets a pass from Alexandre Song slip under his foot and out of play for a throw in.
41mins
Stephen Ireland plays another ball towards Benjani but it is slightly over hit and Almunia quickly comes out to intercept. Ireland has been City's best player so far as we approach half time.
37mins
Ireland plays a decent ball through to Benjani who collides with Almunia but the flag is up for offside. Things are slowly warming up here.
33mins
Nasri's free kick is spilled by Joe Hart, Nicklas Bendtner follows up and backheels it to Song but his finish is poor.
31mins
Robin van Persie breaks forward but is fouled by Micah Richards about 30 yards from goal. Van Persie is down recieving treatment.Samir Nasri stands over it.
27mins
Vassell breaks down the flank and drives the ball low across the middle but Johan Djourou gets in to clear, best move of the game so far.
24mins
The game is at walking pace at the moment with both teams guilty of givng away possession too cheaply.
20mins
Vassell crosses into the box towards Robinho and Benjani Mwaruwari but Almunia easily claims it. Both teams yet to really get going so far.
19mins
Gavin Hoyte is the first player to be booked in the game.
15mins
A quick free kick from Robinho catches Arsenal cold but his shot is straight at Almunia.
11mins
Arsenal passing the ball well in their own half, but as soon as they get towards the City penalty area they are hussled and harried out of it by Mark Hughes men.
7mins
Vassell launches a counter attack for City but he scuffs his pass and Arsenal regain possession
6mins
City are closing Arsenal down at every opportunity but Abou Diaby's bright orange boots has been the only highlight so far.
2mins
Pablo Zabaleta has an ambitous shot that flys high over the bar after a lay off from Darius Vassell.
1mins
Referee Alan Wiley gets the game underway at a chilly Eastlands.
0mins
Manuel Almunia captains Arsenal instead of William Gallas who didn't travel with the squad following his midweek outburst. The Gunners are also missing injured duo Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott as welll as the suspended Cesc Fabregas.
0mins
A big boost for Man City manager Mark Hughes as goalkeeper Joe Hart is passed fit. Captain Richard Dunne also returns from suspension, replacing Tal Ben-Haim.
Match Preview
Both Manchester City and Arsenal will be desperate to get back to winning ways at Eastlands, after poor recent runs of form.
The Citizens ended a run of three straight losses with a 2-2 draw at Hull City last time out, but Mark Hughes' side still looked well short of the early-season form which had many predicting a top-four challenge.
Hughes said after the draw at the KC Stadium: "We needed a positive result and a positive performance and I think that's what we got.
"Ideally, we'd have preferred three points, but key was to have an improvement on our away performances.
"In recent weeks they haven't been anywhere near what they needed to be to get points at Premier League level. So, we've got a point, we'll take it and it sets us up for the games we have ahead of us."
Long-term absentees Martin Petrov and Valeri Bojinov continue to miss out, while Michael Johnson is not yet ready to return after groin problems.
Kasper Schmeichel is likely to continue in goal, with Joe Hart sidelined by the ankle injury he picked up against the Tigers last Sunday, but Richard Dunne and Gelson Fernandes are available after suspensions.
The Gunners will be looking to get back on track after a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Aston Villa last time out, a result which nullified a superb 2-1 victory over Manchester United in their previous outing.
Arsene Wenger's side are already nine points off the pace being set by Chelsea and Liverpool and, having already suffered four defeats this term, know that their title hopes are hanging by a thread.
Wenger admitted after last weekend's reverse: "The performance was not good. Top-level performances are about consistency and at the moment we are not consistent enough.
"Everyone is very down, it is a massive disappointment, Now I don't see them before Thursday or Friday, so I don't have the chance to pick them up."
The Gunners are still shorn of the services of Emmanuel Eboue, Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo, while Bacary Sagna faces several weeks out of action with an ankle problem and Kolo Toure misses out this weekend with a calf strain.
However, Wenger's plans were thrown into further disarray in the build to England's midweek friendly with Germany after seeing Theo Walcott go down with a fresh shoulder injury during training in Berlin.
A downcast Gunners boss confirmed on Thursday that the flying forward will be out of action for at least three months after undergoing surgery on a dislocation.
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Match Report
Crisis club Arsenal found no cheer at chilly Manchester City at the end of a troubled week.
The Gunners were lucky not to lose by a heavier margin than 3-0 at Eastlands where they looked a team in disarray as they crashed to a fifth Premier League defeat of the season.
Arsenal were without nine senior players including William Gallas, stripped of the captaincy after an outburst earlier in the week, the suspended Cesc Fabregas and injured Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott.
While it was an afternoon to forget for Arsenal, it was one to remember for City who produced one of their best displays of the campaign.
After winning only once in their previous eight league games to slip to one point from the relegation places, this was a morale-boosting victory which eased the pressure on manager Mark Hughes.
It was a measure of how disappointing the opening was that the biggest cheer came when Hughes sent substitute Elano to the touchline to warm up midway through the first half.
City had only a couple of decent chances, Robinho's angled shot bringing keeper Manuel Almunia to his knees while Benjani slid in to make contact with a Darius Vassell cross only to put his effort narrowly wide.
Arsenal, for all their slick passing moves, did not create a chance until the 35th minute when Samir Nasri's free-kick was fumbled by keeper Joe Hart while Alexandre Song fired the rebound wide.
Then, in first-half stoppage time came the breakthrough for City, as Stephen Ireland broke through the visiting defence after Mikael Silvestre and Gael Clichy had collided to enable the midfield player to score with ease.
Arsenal made a lively start to the second half, but it was City who doubled their advantage in the 56th minute when Shaun Wright-Phillips played an inch-perfect pass to release Robinho who lobbed Almunia from the edge of the penalty area for his ninth goal of the season.
Robinho was denied a second goal by the referee's assistant who flagged for offside after he had tapped in the ball from almost on the goal-line after Almunia had fumbled Ireland's shot.
Robinho had two further great chances to complete a second hat-trick for City but he was denied by Almunia and then a goal-line clearance from Johan Djourou.
Arsenal's misery was completed when they conceded a third goal in stoppage time. After Djourou has tripped substitute Daniel Sturridge, the young City striker got up to score from the spot himself.
Manchester City Team
Arsenal Team
Manchester City | Arsenal |
Corners
| 3 | 3 |
Fouls
| 16 | 9 |
Goal attempts
| 13 | 11 |
Shots off target
| 4 | 6 |
Offsides
| 6 | 1 |
90mins
Sturridge breaks immediately into the penalty area and goes down under a challenge by Djourou. Penalty to City