Arsenal secured a 0-3 away victory over a Manchester City to go 2nd in the league table. The dramatic first half saw Manchester City start brightly and came close to scoring as early as in the 2nd minute when Carlos Tevez's low cross from the right hand side met David Silva whose flick brought out a brilliant save from Lukasz Fabianski.
City again came close to scoring in the 4th minute when Micah Richards ran down the right and delivered a low cross only to be cleared by an Arsenal defender.
Just when it seemed that City were in total control of the game disaster struck as Dedryck Boyata brought down Chamakh just outside the penalty box, Chamakh seemed to be through on goal after a fabulous through ball from Cesc Fabregas. Arsenal was not able to take advantage of the resulting free-kick but City were down to 10 men in just the fifth minute.
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By now the game started getting more physical and it seemed as if City had targeted Arsenal Captain Cesc Fabregas, who was fouled many a times in the first half.
It was by now that the Gunners started to pick up momentum and came close to score in the 18th minute as Sagna's cross was sent wide by Djourou who was unmarked inside the penalty box.
Arsenal were rewarded with their dominance two minutes later with a typical Arsenal goal as a brilliant a one-two between Nasri and Arshavin saw the former score a cracker of a goal with a brilliant finish.
Arsenal got a scare in the 28th minute when Richards ran past Djourou and then cut on to his left foot inside the penalty area and hit a curling his shot just wide of the far post.
But the Gunners continued to dominate and were rewarded with a penalty in the 39th minute when Kompany brought down Fabregas inside the penalty area with a mistimed tackle.
But Fabregas failed to capitalise on the glorious opportunity and missed from the spot which saw Goalkeeper Joe Hart make a brilliant save diving to his left. Arsene Wenger could barely watch the miss from the sidelines. Arsenal went into the break 1-0 ahead and with a one man advantage.
The start of the second half saw Arsenal dominate the game right from the start, while City's concerns increased as Carlos Tevez was substituted with former Arsenal striker Adebayor because of an injury that he was carrying in the first half. The introduction of Adebayor seemed to make things livelier and City came close to scoring twice in two minutes first through David Silva whose shot from a tight angle was brilliantly saved by Fabianski and then through Adebayor who missed a simple header in front of the goal.
City were made to pay for their missed chances as Arsenal doubled their score a minute later when a Fabregas through-ball to Chamakh rebounded off a City defender to Song, who buried ball into the top corner.
It was Game set and match for Arsenal in the 88th minute when Substitute Nicklas Bendtner made it 3-0 with a classic outside-the- foot finish through a brilliant ball from Nasri from the left flank
City tried to salvage some pride by finding a consolation goal but it was Fabianski's day as he again made a brilliant save to deny Boateng in the injury time.
The match ended 3-0 in Arsenal's favour.
All in all it was a comprehensive performance from the Gunners as they totally outclassed City and were totally ruthless. They are now placed second in the league table, 5 points behind the leaders Chelsea.
The Gunners boss would have been delighted with the performance and with some positive news that the Fabregas was back at his best, and also with the performance of the goalkeeper Fabianski, who had a fabulous game.
The City boss could only adore the way Arsenal played but should be pleased with the performances of new signing David Silva who seemed to be the best player for City on field.
Man of the Match: Samir Nasri : Brilliant performance by the Frenchman who was very lively throughout the game slipping in some brilliant through balls, scoring one goal and setting up another. He is only getting better day by day.
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