Four things we learnt from the Man City-Arsenal game

When the final whistle blew at the Etihad Stadium yesterday, it signalled the end of Arsenal’s title challenge, bleak as it already was, and put a dent in their recent run of momentum chasing the Champions League places. For City, it represented a recovery from the twin blips that were relegation into the mediocrity of the Europa League and a first Premier League loss of the season against Chelsea last week.

The scoreline rarely tells the entire story though, and presented below is the old one-two-three-four that I took away from the game-

The match was as close on the pitch as it was one-sided off it

I remember nodding my head sagely before cracking witticisms like ‘If we were playing Fantasy Football, this match would already be over’ prior to kickoff. And nor could it be considered as hyperbole. Arsenal’s playing XI were worth as much as City’s front two, City boasted a 100% record at home, and Arsenal were playing catch-up after a horror start to the season. But all those off-pitch vagaries rarely came into the picture as we witnessed a fantastically open and evenly matched encounter.

Evenly matched

Both teams started pressing from the off, which meant that much of the play was bogged down in midfield and error-strewn. There was space to be exploited by both sides as a result of this pressing, and City used it to their advantage a couple of times, most notably when Barry sent Zabaleta free who found Sergio Aguero with a smart cross, only for the nippy Argentine to blaze over from close range.

Arsenal’s attacking play came predominantly through their wingers, and Gervinho got a chance to run at his full-back all game, which he did with good effect. He got a couple of shots away, and skinned Micah Richards for pace before laying it up for van Persie in the second half, an effort which Hart saved.

Even after City went ahead, both teams pushed forward for more goals, which was heartening to see but surprisingly naïve on Mancini’s part. City had chances to extend their lead, Arsenal had chances to pull level, and the result could just as easily have been 5-3 on another day. While not delivering on the goals front, the match was balanced on a knife-edge and entertained throughout.

Defensive shake-ups shook Arsenal up

Arsenal already had a dearth of full-backs going into the game, with Bacary Sagna, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs and Andre Santos all nursing one injury or the other. This meant that the away side fielded an all-centre back defensive backline, with Koscielny and Mertesacker being flanked by Vermaelen and Djourou on the left and right respectively.

Now while this wasn’t the worst of arrangements, it did hinder Arsenal’s attacking prowess somewhat. Neither Vermaelen or Djourou have the ability to consistently bomb up and down the flanks or link up play with wingers, and they were quite restricted as a result. But when Djourou pulled up with a groin injury in the closing stages of the first half, Arsenal had to reshuffle and already shuffled back-four, and it was in the immediate aftermath of this reshuffle that Ciy took the lead.

Djourou's injury shook Arsenal up

Rookie Ignasi Miquel came on for Djourou and was moved to the left, Koscielny shifted to right back and Vermaelen moved into the centre. This was one positional change too many, and some confusion ensued in the Arsenal defence for the next ten minutes or so. Balotelli was left free down the right, cut inside Alex Song too easily (the Cameroonian couldn’t risk a tackle, having already been booked in the fifth minute) and fired a shot which Szczesny palmed away, but only for David Silva to tuck in the rebound.

The substitutions sealed the game for Man City

And I’m talking about both the Arsenal and Man City subs. Mancini brought on De Jong and Milner to shore up the midfield and make sure that City had more of the ball, and Dzeko to give them a target to aim at. They were positive substitutions, correct; but one felt that all of them were made about ten minutes too late. Mancini let City’s game stagnate for a period after they took the lead, when Arsenal could have easily clawed back. And were it not for their poor substitutions, they would have.

It’s common knowledge now that Andrey Arshavin has been out of form for some time. But he looked shockingly out of shape and unwilling when he came on against City in the 70^th minute. Yossi Benayoun can feel hard done by to not get an appearance, for the Israeli has been pushing for a starting-spot consistently and might have been able to exploit the space in between City lines better than the lethargic Russian did.

The other Arsenal sub, Mertesacker off for Chamakh, was a positive one is essence but was made a tad bit late and didn’t pay dividends because Chamakh is another player devoid of confidence. While determined and willing to work, the Moroccan has been without a goal far too long for any striker’s liking, and it was telling that Arsenal’s most potent threat in the 90^th minute was Thomas Vermaelen.

Which brings us to the last point…

Arsenal need goals from somewhere else

Robin van Persie is an amazing player, and all Arsenal fans will surreptitiously touch a piece of wood while wishing that this purple patch carries over till the end of the season. But that is highly unlikely, it’s called a patch for a reason, and Arsenal are looking woefully short in the goal-scoring department barring their star Dutchman. The aforementioned Chamakh is too blunt and insecure, Gervinho and Walcott are inconsistent as far as finding the back of the net is concerned, Ramsey can’t be burdened with the responsibility of getting goals so soon, and Ju Young Park is probably holed up in a London attic somewhere.

Arsenal's second-highest goalscorer

After van Persie, who has a million goals, Arsenal’s next highest goal-scorers in the League are Arteta, Gervinho and Vermaelen with three goals each. With Gervinho and Chamakh leaving for the African Cup of Nations, Arsenal might need to dip into the coffers of cash supposedly at their disposal and buy themselves a striker or two.

The spine of their team is a positive one though, and they can take encouragement from a well-fought match. Albeit as Wenger rightly says, they needed both encouragement and points.

Man City can take both for now.