Manchester Reigns as Spurs and Arsenal Get a Pasting from City and United

Fans of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal F.C. will be united today—united in grief as their teams both were battered at the hands of Manchester City and Manchester United.

City took on Spurs at White Hart Lane in the earlier of the two fixture and Edin Dzeko decided to finally unleash his full array of skills on Spurs.

He scored a perfect hat-trick and then finished the day with a delicious left-foot curler after a fluid one-two with Gareth Barry. Kun Aguero also chipped in with a fierce left-footed strike.  

Roberto Mancini wasted no time in including Nasri in the starting XI and again adopted the un-Mancini like attacking style of football he shown throughout this season. And City did not disappoint.

The movement of Dzeko, Aguero, Silva and Nasri caused havoc in the Spurs defense, while Toure and Barry bombarded forward whenever needed.

The strike partnership of Aguero and Dzeko looks pretty deadly. They compliment each other extremely well and both are very intelligent footballers on and off the ball, which helps the players around them.

Nasri had no problem fitting into this new style of play adopted by City. His creative spark looks like the final piece of the puzzle for City—even though I think they might feel a little short at the back as the season progresses. 

Spurs had their moments as well. They created some great chances but failed to convert them. They lack a genuine striker up-front and they desperately need someone like Scott Parker.

VDV's fitness is a big concern. He just can't get himself to play the entire 90 minutes. That would hurt Spurs someday when they might need his creativity at the end of a crucial game. 

Modric did start this one but didn't seem at his best. The whole transfer saga surrounding him seemed to have an effect on his performance. If Spurs lose him to Chelsea, then it's going to be a very rough season for the White Hart Lane faithfuls.

After the match, Spurs found themselves at the bottom of the League table with no points, while City were looking down upon the rest from the summit.

Manchester United took on Arsenal at home after City's Triumph against Spurs. Arsenal, with all their problems with injuries and suspensions, were expected to loose. But no one expected the shocking and spineless display that the Gunners showcased at the theatre of dreams.

To United's credit, they played some brilliant football. They had pace, strength, creativity...everything. Their goals were a mix of brilliant passes and teamwork and sheer individual talent.

Nani, Young and Rooney almost looked in sync in their movements. And even De Gea came up with some crucial saves.

Cleverly again impressed in the middle of the mid-field with his distribution and vision and Welback impressed with his cunning runs and his finish. 

Sir Alex has somehow again managed to completely change the face of his team without compromising the output. The complete opposite can be said of Arsene Wenger, though.

"You feel humiliated when you concede eight goals," he told Sky Sports. "It was a terrible day for us, it was a combination of an under-strength team and weakness. We collapsed physically in the second half."

"I know that in England when you lose a game signings are always the solution," he added. "We had eight players out today. Anybody would suffer with eight players missing."

More than that, it was a combination of his sheer failure to shell out some cash and make some big signings along with his inability to install any sort of character and discipline in his team after the invincible era. 

Yes, they have had some injuries and suspensions but that is not something new. We have heard that for ages.

It doesn't take a Rocket scientist to figure out that if your players are consistently getting red cards, they WILL BE suspended. And Arsenal have managed to get four Red Cards in the three league games they have played.

On the subject of injuries, it's very clear that Arsenal have no depth in their squad and have a very poor medical rehabilitation set-up. 

One can't quite understand why Wenger refuses to spend big money and strengthen his squad and sign some decent physios instead of giving the same excuses again and again.

Arsenal are way behind United, City, Chelsea and Liverpool and they definitely won't make it to the top four unless there are dramatic changes. Unfortunately it's too late for that. 

EPL looks very much like a two horse race between City and United. Chelsea and Liverpool might have something to say about that, but neither has the depth of City or the sheer art of winning of United to match the Manchester clubs. But both of them might have a big say in whether the title goes to the Red half of Manchester or to the Blue half.