What a game that was! Quite possibly the mos t exciting game I've seen this season. With a 1-0 scoreline you would be forgiven for thinking this was an edgy, nervous game with few chances, but you would be very wrong.
It was blatantly clear from the moment the whistle went that both teams were up for this game. City's season was falling apart according to large sections of the media after losing to Chelsea, and with Manchester United beating QPR earlier on in the day City really needed a result to stay top of the league.
Within the first 10 minutes City could have been 1-0 up as Zabaleta (playing at left back) received the ball out wide from a perfectly weighted pass from Barry. With the Arsenal defence retreating, Zaba placed a wonderful first time pass across the top of the 18 yard box which was collected expertly by Aguero. Sergio's first touch was sublime, his shot however wasn't as he blasted the ball over the bar.
As well as Zabaleta comng in for Kolarov and Clichy (injured and suspended), this game also saw Kolo Toure return to action, chosen ahead of Joleon Lescott. Noteably though, it was Kopmpany who occupied the left side of the central pairing. With the threat of Walcott cutting inside and causing trouble it was up to Kompany and Zaba to make so he didn't have any influence on the game.
That's exactly what they did. Both Zabaleta and Kompany has absolutely superb games. Amongst the best I've ever seen either of them play. Komapny was a giant in defence, nothing was getting past him and he even showed a few deft touches going forward when the opportunity arose. Zabaleta was sensational at left back both in defence and going forward, even hitting the post with a drive from outside the area later in the game.
After his previous performances this season I was a little worried when I saw Kolo's name on the team sheet. But I will hand it to him, he also had a fine game. Perhaps the most notable contribution was executing a perfectly times tackle on Aaron Ramsey with the young gunner 6 yards from goal and certain to score. The look on Ramsey's face said it all, he wouldn't get a better opportunity to score all season.
Balotelli came close to scoring after 25 minutes as he brought the ball down between two Arsenal defenders and shot on the turn from around 8 yards. Unfortunately for City, Szczesny was in fine form, and closed the gap quickly to stop the shot heading into the back of the net.
The first half was exhilarating as both sides seemingly took turns in trading blows. City attacked, then Arsenal attacked, back and forth it went. Joe Hart made a number of fantastic saves to keep City in the game, the best performance from him so far this season as he was clearly desperate to keep a clean sheet. Both teams went in level at 0-0 at the halfway mark.
The deadlock was finally broken on 52 minutes after Zabaleta intercepted a pass on the edge of his own area. Gareth Barry picked up the ball and passed quickly to Samir Nasri who then quickly turned and ran past the halfway line, spotting Balotelli in acres of space to run into on the left wing. Balo took control of the ball 6 yards from the byline, worked his way to the 18 yard box and jinked passed song before firing off a low drive. Szczesny parried the shot but Aguero managed to get his head to the rebound which then fell neatly to Silva who tapped the ball home with his right foot.
Both sides had a number of good chances in the second half. Robin Van Persie had the ball in the back of the net at one point but the assistant flagged for offside. Arsenal may well feel aggrieved after seeing the reply though. It was a mixture of poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping from both teams that kept the score down before time was called on a simply breathtaking game.
An outstanding performance from all players. Nasri was given man of the match at the Etihad, Kompany was given it by Sky, although Zabaleta and Gareth Barry were two other very strong shouts for the award.
City remain top of the table despite their season apparently falling apart after the Chelsea game. Stoke visit the Etihad Stadium in the next few days, a different sort of test altogether awaits.
Another big game ahead as Arsenal travel up from London to the Etihad Stadium. The media have taken delight in declaring City's season is crumbling after falling out of the Champions League and suffering their first domestic defeat against Chelsea. All I will say to that is "pffft, get a grip and find something interesting to write about".
Arsene Wenger's side haven't exactly got off to a flying start to the season after selling 3 very important players over the summer. Their defensive record is quite shocking overall, conceding more goals than anyone in the top 7 teams.
This poor record is partly down to their complete and utter capitulation to Manchester United earlier on in the season, but they have only conceded 2 in their last 5 Premier League games. However, their numbers at the back have taken a serious hit and are without a recognised full-back on either side of the pitch.
Unsurprisingly I would say their main threat is Robin van Persie. RVP has almost single handedly kept the Gunners in the top half of the table, scoring 15 or the team's 31 league goals. And they said City relied too much on Tevez last season! I've not heard much (anything) about how van Persie has been carrying the squad from the media, and you wont do either.
Given RVP's goal scoring form, it is a little concerning that City haven't kept a clean sheet for 8 consecutive league games. The absence of Nigel De Jong has certainly showed this season as Mancini has opted for the combination of Barry and Toure in the middle rather than Barry and De Jong with Toure further up the pitch.
On the plus side of this though it has obviously enabled City to be more adventurous despite using the exact same formation as last season as we now have more quality attacking players to choose from. There can be no denying that City's ability going forward has more than made up for less cover at the back.
Talking of cover at the back, Micah Richards is set to return at right-back which is a big boost to the squad. Pablo Zabaleta is likely to move over to the left of defence as Kolarov is still recovering from injury and Clichy is suspended. Other than that, there are no injury concerns at this time.
City are once again favourites with the bookies to come out on top, and despite Arsenal slowly getting themselves back into top form and City's little blip in the league I'd have to agree with them. Arsenal will come and play football, there will be no buses parked in front of their goal. This, coupled with their makeshift defence, could play right into City's strength on the break.
Silly season hasn't even kicked into gear yet, but that hasn't stopped Manchester City being linked with a ridiculous 34 players which are worth an eye watering £617.7m as of today (15/12/2011). What's laughable is you will actually see people commenting on these rumours as though a) they're actually true and b) City are actually wanting to buy them all. I do pity these sad individuals, almost as much as I pity the journalists (and I use that term loosely) who make up the majority of them in the first place.
So who are the lucky 'few' that could be playing alongside David Silva and Vincent Kompany at the Etihad Stadium after January?
Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli (£25m) Edinson Cavani - Napoli (£30m) Marek Hasmik - Napoli (£25m) Daniele De Rossi - Roma (£8m) Alesio Cerci - Fiorentina (£5m) Milos Krasic - Jeventus (£17.5m) Thiago Silva - AC Milan (£25m) Alexandre Pato - AC Milan (Swap with Tevez Maicon - Inter Milan (Swap Carlos Tevez) Cristian Chivu - Inter Milan (£15m) Radja Nainggolan - Cagliari (£4.5m)
Sergio Busquets - Barcelona (£35m) Eric Abidal - Barcelona (£11.5m) Maxwell - Barcelona (£6m) Sami Khedira - Real Madrid (£20m) Javi Matinez - Athletic Bilbao (£34m) Mhemet Topal - Valencia (£10m)
Paul Pogba - Manchester United (pre-contract for free summer transfer) Robin van Persie - Arsenal (£30m) Ross Barkley - Everton (£30m) Lewis Dunk - Brighton (£5m) Tommie Hoban - Watford (unknown) Wilfried Zaha - Crystal Palace (£700k)
Eden Hazard - Lille (£40m) MBaye Niang - Caen (£1m)
Sime Vrsaljiko - Dinamo Zagreb (£12.5m) Mateo Kovacic - Dinamo Zagreb (£12.5m)
Gregory van der Wiel - Ajax (£28m) Christian Eriksen - Alax (£30m) Zakaria Bakkali - PSV Eindhovan (unknown)
Neymar da Silva - Santos (£50m)
Hulk - Porto (£88m)
Marco Reus - Borussia Monchengladbach (£15m)
Yassine El Ghanassy - Gent (£3.5m)
And there you have it. Mancini's apparent shopping list. Forget what I said about City only really needing 1 wide man to complete the squad as that's clearly not the case according to the press. I'll keep this updated as and when new rumours are published so we can all have a laugh at them. Edit: Nathan Redmond - Birmingham (£6m) Shaquille Hunter - Bristol Rovers (unknown) Gary Cahill - Bolton Wanderers (£11.5m) Cheick Tiote - Newcastle United (£25m) Jan Vertonghen - Ajax (£11m) Angel Pozo - Real Madrid (£100k) Nicla Leali - Brecia (unknown) Kurt Zuoma - St Etienne (£5m) Nir Biton - FC Ashdod (unknown) Nicolas Gaitan - Benfica (£37.5m) Nicolas Burdisso - Inter Milan (unknown) But he actually plays for Roma and in injured forthe entire season. Well done Daily Mail.
I'm not sure I can remember the last time so many people rejoiced over a Manchester City loss. Times are changing for sure. It was certainly an exciting game to watch although the end result wasn't what any City fan wanted to see.
It all started so well on a very wet and windy night at Stamford Bridge when Aguero received the ball just inside the Chelsea half, found his way out of a dead end and threaded a perfect ball to Balotelli who's perfectly timed run gave him the space to run at the goal with Ivanovic struggling to catch up. He still had a lot of work to do though as Cech came out to meet him and Ivanovic tried to put in a challenge from behind. Mario oozed pure class by effortlessly easing the ball around Cech and neatly slotted the ball into the back of the net. Less than 2 minutes on the clock and City were already 0-1 up at Stamford Bridge.
City totally dominated the next 30 minutes with some exquisite one-touch passing which left Chelsea chasing shadows for the most part. Even when they didn't have the ball they gave Chelsea little room to breathe, closing down players quickly and forcing errors. However, City failed to capitalise on some very good chances as well as having a very good penalty shout turned down by Clattenburg.
Silva jinked his way into the penalty area, ending up on the deck as he passed Bosingwa who stuck out a leg and made contact with Silva's knee. Clattenburg waved play on. How he could just wave play on is a mystery as the call had to be either a penalty to City or a yellow card to Silva for diving if Clattenburg felt it wasn't a penalty.
Chelsea managed to find their way back into the game against the run of play after 34 minutes when Daniel Sturridge managed to get around Gael Clichy and whip in a cross which was met by Raul Meireles. It was good movement by Meireles although the defending could, and should have been better. Zabaleta could have come closer to him (although he would have left the far post unguarded) and Yaya Toure stopped tracking him the closer he got to goal.
Meireles was lucky to still be on the pitch after that as he committed a studs high challenge either side of that goal. First he caught Silva and the calf after he was 2nd to the ball and then caught Zabaleta's knee in very similar circumstances. Only one of these was punished with a card, yet both were yellow card offences. Both sides returned to the dressing rooms with 11 men and all to play for at half time.
Things took a turn for the worse for City after the restart as Gael Clichy was booked for pulling back Sturridge just inside City's own half. A needless foul given Clichy's pace and the position of other players. He then received a second yellow 11 minutes later after a rash challenge on Ramires, leaving City with 10 men for the next half an hour.
To their credit, City defended well and limited Chelsea's chances despite the lion's share of possession they now had. It wasn't until the 81st minute that Chelsea managed to gain the lead through a Frank Lampard penalty. Daniel Sturridge's shot from just inside the 18 yard box hit Joleon Lescott's arm as he dived to block the ball. It wasn't intentional by any stretch of the imagination, but his arms were high and a penalty was given.
City put up a good fight and still managed to cause Chelsea some problems to the point that it looked as though Chelsea had the man sent off for a short spell, but it wasn't to be. Chelsea's players and staff rejoiced like they'd just secured the quadruple, as did several of SKY's commentary staff.
City have now played Spurs, United, Liverpool and Chelsea away from home, winning 2 drawing 1 and losing 1. 7 points away from home to 4 of the 5 closest title challengers is nothing to be sniffed at. Although there were a couple of disappointing performances from some players last night, the team as a whole can hold its head up high despite the defeat.
Cue the 'resurgent Chelsea' and 'the wheels falling off at City after crashing out of the Champions League' comments from people who either didn't watch the game or should really know better.
Arsenal visit the Etihad on Sunday. Although they're looking good in attack, their depleted defence may just take a beasting after the disappointment of the result last night.
Within the first 10 minutes City could have been 1-0 up as Zabaleta (playing at left back) received the ball out wide from a perfectly weighted pass from Barry. With the Arsenal defence retreating, Zaba placed a wonderful first time pass across the top of the 18 yard box which was collected expertly by Aguero. Sergio's first touch was sublime, his shot however wasn't as he blasted the ball over the bar. 
That's exactly what they did. Both Zabaleta and Kompany has absolutely superb games. Amongst the best I've ever seen either of them play. Komapny was a giant in defence, nothing was getting past him and he even showed a few deft touches going forward when the opportunity arose. Zabaleta was sensational at left back both in defence and going forward, even hitting the post with a drive from outside the area later in the game. 
The first half was exhilarating as both sides seemingly took turns in trading blows. City attacked, then Arsenal attacked, back and forth it went. Joe Hart made a number of fantastic saves to keep City in the game, the best performance from him so far this season as he was clearly desperate to keep a clean sheet. Both teams went in level at 0-0 at the halfway mark. 
Both sides had a number of good chances in the second half. Robin Van Persie had the ball in the back of the net at one point but the assistant flagged for offside. Arsenal may well feel aggrieved after seeing the reply though. It was a mixture of poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping from both teams that kept the score down before time was called on a simply breathtaking game. 
