Arsenal vs. Manchester City: Tevez, Hart, Nasri and Other Lessons Learned
Arsenal saw off Manchester City with a 3-0 win at Eastlands after City were reduced to 10 men with just four minutes on the clock. Carlos Tevez picked up an injury and Nasri impressed, as did Joe Hart and Lukasz Fabianski.
Arsenal leap frog Manchester City to take second position on goal difference, in front of both Manchester United and City. Unfortunately this brings to an end West Brom's stay in the top four, for now...
So, what have we learned from Arsenal's victory, and from Man City's loss?
Lukasz Fabianksi
1 of 8
Lukasz Fabianski has earned himself the nickname "Flappyhanski" due to some less than impressive displays, but today the nickname didn't seem applicable as Fabianski put in an accomplished display, making several good saves.
Within two minutes, Fabianski had made a contribution, pulling off a brilliant reaction save to keep out a David Silva flick. He continued to impress in the second half keeping out another David Silva effort, as well as an Adebayor header, before preventing a potential consolation goal in the last minute by tipping a Boateng drive over the bar.
Outside of shot stopping, Fabianski performed admirably, little flapping and plenty of decisiveness. If Fabianski continues to perform as well as he did against City, Manuel Alumnia may well not be certain of a starting berth at Arsenal.
Samir Nasri Is Improving Fast
2 of 8
The 23-year-old Frenchman is coming into his own this season. Previously he'd play a good game or two, before losing his form, he certainly hasn't put a run of good performances together like he has done this season before.
A well taken goal and an assist meant that Nasri was vital to Arsenal's win. He helped create his goal as well, exchanging passes with Arshavin before shooting past Joe Hart. Nasri set up Arsenal's third with a perfect through ball to Bendtner who finished coolly.
Nasri has now scored seven goals in his last seven games for Arsenal and has already scored four league goals this season, twice as many as he managed over the whole of last season. His speed and skill on the ball are matched by his ability to pass and his willingness to actually shoot, something Arsenal have a problem with doing.
Wenger has said that he is becoming a more physical player, something that will only help him as a smallish player in one of the most physical top level leagues in the world.
Joe Hart
3 of 8
Despite seeing three goals go past him, Joe Hart performed well. None of the goals were his fault and he played well, controlling his area comfortably and not allowing problems in front of him to impact his game.
A good save from Fabregas's penalty kept Man City in the game at 1-0 down and several punches showed why he has quickly become both City's and England's first choice shot stopper. He was often the initiator of attacks, starting several counter attacks with his kicks.
At just 23, Hart doesn't seem to suffer from the traditional England goalkeeping issues and has the potential to be a key figure for club and country. Now that he is playing regularly for a top club, he should continue to improve, something that will please City, and England, fans.
Manchester City Rely On Carlos Tevez
4 of 8
Carlos Tevez seemed to be struggling for much of the time he spent on the pitch and was eventually forced off with an injury. With Tevez out of sorts, City looked far less threatening than when he has been fully fit. Even when he was replaced with Adebayor, City still didn't look very dangerous; Tevez's work ethic was sorely missed.
Tevez has scored seven of Manchester City's 12 league goals this season. While it is fantastic to have a striker on such fine form, the statistic suggests that there is room for improvement among the rest of the strikers. Balotelli was introduced in the second half, having just come back from injury, and had little impact despite showing his skills. David Silva did look dangerous with his clever footwork and was only prevented from scoring by some good goalkeeping. However, without Tevez, City looked flat and too easy to defend against.
Considering that Arsenal hadn't kept a clean sheet in the last 16 away matches, the problems that relying on Tevez can cause for City were particularly apparent. They need to have another striker find some goalscoring form if they hope to challenge the likes of Chelsea come the end of the season.
Manchester City Defensive Weaknesses
5 of 8
Manchester City didn't help themselves against Arsenal. A poor challenge from Dedryck Boyata after just five minutes left City with 10 men for the majority of the match. City continued to show defensive frailties throughout the match. Arsenal's first goal was too easy, as Barry lost his man, while their second came about after Wayne Bridge poked the ball back into the centre of his own box when he really need to hit it clear.
Cesc Fabregas was allowed to walk through City's defence with ease, they gave away a penalty and Jerome Boateng almost put the ball into his own net. City will need to be more assured at the back if they are to be serious title challengers come the end of the season. They have showed that they can stay solid at the back, but they can't afford to have off-days like they did against Arsenal.
Beautiful Football Can Be Successful
6 of 8
Arsenal love to play "the beautiful game" beautifully. There is no better team in the league when it comes to passing and looking like a quality side. Often their eagerness to pass causes problems. Even on Sunday, in what was an impressive display, chances to shoot weren't taken as Arsenal tried to walk the ball into the goal.
In total, Arsenal had 12 shots, eight of them on target, compared to City's three off target and six on. While this is plenty of shots, Arsenal could have taken far more, especially considering the amount of time they spent in City's half of the pitch.
The style of football Arsenal play is incredibly frustrating for opposing teams. City, who played almost the whole match one man short, were run ragged by a team that was letting the ball do all the work. City managed to hold Arsenal off for much of the match, but by the end of the game they were exhausted and they could do little to stop the fresh Bendtner from scoring the third goal.
Arsenal need to find a balance whereby they play a passing game, but don't spend too much time messing around with the ball when they are in positions to score. If they can do that, there is no reason for them not to end their recent trophy drought.
Arsenal Are Tougher
7 of 8
Over the last few years, Arsenal have been consistently described as a weak team, while Arsene Wenger has helped this image develop by spending plenty of time complaining about the lack of protection for his players.
However, this season things things have been a bit different. Arsenal have been the third worst behaved team this season, picking up 18 yellow cards and three red cards so far. That is the same number of yellows and reds as Wolves, with whom they are joint top of the red card table.
The Manchester City match showed this new, more aggressive Arsenal perfectly. Arsenal picked up four yellow cards and committed 10 fouls, just one less than City. Alex Song is even joint third in the most fouls committed table.
While fouling is obviously against the rules, it cab certainly bring benefits. Arsenal have often been viewed as a weak side who can be pushed about for a whole match if you put in a couple of strong tackles. This was probably true on some occasions, so the quicker Arsenal develop a reputation for being able to be as tough as very physical sides like City and Wolves, the quicker the amount of bad challenges they are on the end of will decrease.
The Premier League Is More Competitive
8 of 8
Although each team has only played nine games so far and there is still a long way to go, there are currently three teams on 17 points, with two more teams, one of which is newly promoted West Brom, two points behind on 15.
So far this season, Arsenal have beaten Man City, who beat Chelsea, who beat Arsenal who lost to West Brom who drew with Man United. I could go on, but the point is that this isn't a season where one or two teams win almost every game. The top five or so teams have so far shown that the results are far from obvious when they play each other or indeed teams lower down in the league.
Arsenal vs Man City was a perfect example of this competitiveness. Even down to 10 men, Man City managed to hold off an Arsenal side in full swing for much of the match. They couldn't keep up with Arsenal for the whole game, but they made Arsenal work for their win. They were still very much in with a chance of getting at least a point out of the match until Arsenal went 2-0 up with less than half an hour to go. In the end Arsenal were comfortable, but the score line suggests that the match was easier for Arsenal than it was.
The table might spread out as the season progresses, but equally it may stay fairly tight; the season may well not be a two horse race as it has been in recent years.
