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Arsenal v Manchester City - as it happened

احدث اجدد واروع واجمل واشيك Arsenal v Manchester City - as it happened


Arsenal's Bacary Sagna, right, and Manchester City's Jo, left, fight for the ball. Photograph: Tom Hevezi/AP
Good evening everybody, and welcome to this evening's minute-by-minute report on a match between Arsenal's cheaply assembled moral high ground-dwelling journeymen and the crass, uppity, nouveau riche internecine squabblers of Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.

Third in the Premier League entertain second this evening and at the risk of being ridiculed for stating the blindingly Shearer, this match could go either way in terms of both entertainment value and outcome. Obviously, most right-thinking folk are hoping for an end-to-end multi-goal thriller with multiple dismissals, a few penalties and a 20-man centre-circle brawl that leaves nary a buckler unswashed. The obvious worry is that we'll be left pondering the futility of it all after a stalemate in which an 11-man Manchester City rearguard defends obdurately as their hosts try in vain to repeatedly "Arsenal" the ball into the net in that sub-Barcelona way for which their name is a byword.

At first glance, the early omens don't look great. The absence of David Silva and Mario Balotelli affords City manager Roberto Mancini just the excuse he needs to pack an extra man into midfield, leaving Carlos Tevez alone up front to scurry and snarl, demanding respect and looking to capitalise on any half-chance that might force Sky Sports into curating an impromptu exhibition of one of his increasingly collectable shin-pad doodles.

But it's worth rem,embering that since Manchester City swallow-dived into their bottomless pot of petro-gold, they've played Arsenal six times, winning three, losing two and drawing one. Only one of the six encounters has finished scoreless, with the other five serving up an average 3.4 goals each.

At the time of writing, Big Betting Exchange have Arsenal as 4-5 favourites, City at 4-1 and the draw at 3-1. Robin van Persie is 11-2 to score first, followed by Carlos Tevez (13-2), Marouane Chamakh (7-1) and Samir Nasri (7-1).

Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Song, Wilshere, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, van Persie. 
Subs: Szczesny, Rosicky, Denilson, Squillaci, Arshavin, Chamakh, Bendtner.

Man City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Toure, Zabaleta, De Jong, Barry, Toure Yaya, Milner, Tevez, Jo.
Subs: Given, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Adam Johnson, Boateng, Lescott, Vieira.

Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)

So ... Arsene Wenger picks the same eleven that served him so well against Chelsea, with Theo Walcott in for Andrei Arshavin and Robin van Persie getting the nod ahead of Marouane Chamakh. Assuming they line up the same way, expect Walcott to patrol the right touchline working as hard in defence as attack, Nasri to play on the left and Fabregas to play behind lone frontman Van Persie.

Roberto Mancini has eschewed the option of fielding an extra midfielder, putting Jo on the left, ambling in towards Carlos Tevez up front. In his pre-match intrerview, Robberto Mancini jokes that the best way of beating Arsenal is to score two goals without reply. OK, he's no Chris Rock, but he's funnier than Russell Howard and Michael McIntyre combined. He also refuses to confirm that Edin Džeko has passed a medical and is just a couple of minor quibbles over money and the flourish of a quill away from being a Manchester City player.

Bad news for Arsenal: Lukasz Fabinaski appears to have knacked his shoulder in the warm-up, diving low and to his right to save a low drive from somebody who may or may not have been wearing a giant foam suit. He's definitely in distress, which means minute-by-minute reporters' nightmare Wojciech Szczesny may have to lace up his gloves.

Fabianski update: He's back on his feet and grimacing from time to time, but carrying on regardless. He also has a lot of gel in his hair, writes minute-by-minute reporter with hopeless Brylcreem addiction.

An email: "Regarding Roberto Mancini being no Chris Rock," he writes. "Does that mean Mancini doesn't repeat his punchlines to spin out his interviews?" Nice.

A pedant writes: "Of course we want free-flowing action which turns its nose up to rules and regulations on the pitch — but surely the same doesn't go for the page?" writes Alex Smith. "If you're going to play the compound adjective game, at least get your hyphens right. It should be 'cheaply-assembled'. Now apologise and let's move on."

Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack. The teams emerge from the tunnel and stride purposefully towards the centre-circle. Sky cut to an advert-break, prompting me to remind readers that you can read this in High Definition if you squint really hard.

Will shill anything for food dept: Bolton "comedian" Paddy McGuinness continues his skid along the coat-tails of Peter Kay, this time shilling for a bookie. That's Victor Chandler and William Hill (Tim Lovejoy) and whoever it is Ray Winstone hawks bets for that I'll never place a bet with again.

Game on: Arsenal kick off, playing from left to right. Both teams are wearing their usual home strips.

1 min: Good work from Alex Song, who charges down a Zabaletta clearance from the back, putting it out for a throw-in deep in City territory.

2 min: From the ensuing City throw-in, Arsenal go so close to scoring. They win possession, Nasri advances towards goal, picks out Jack Wilshere to his left and the Arsenal tyro sends in a low cross-cum-shot that Fabregas stretches to divert into the gaping goal and misses by this much.

3 min: It's all Arsenal in the opening stages. They surge forward again, pressing Joe Hart into service. He's quick off his line to gather a through-ball with Nasri threatening to pounce.

5 min: Man City have been playing with 10 men for the past two minutes, with Micah Richards having hobbled off to the sideline to receive treatment for an ankle injury. He looks fit to continue.

6 min: Arsenal haven't been having it all their own way - in all that excitement, I didn't get a chance to report a low, diagonal James Milner drive pulled wide of the far post. It's been a very lively start.

8 min: Arsenal hit the post! After a marvellous piece of individual skill, Robin van Persie makes room for a shot that beats Joe Hart and rattles the right stick.

9 min: Arsenal are swarming all over the Manchester City defence, infiltrating at will. This time, Jack Wilshere capitalises on a deflected Van Persie effort to shoot low and hard towards the bottom left-hand corner. Joe Hart gets down to save well. On the touchline, Roberto Mancini is barking instructiuons at Pablo Zabaleta.

11 min: Manchester City get the ball out of their own half and up towards Carlos Tevez. Laurent Koscielny dispossesses the Argentinian and sends the ball forward again.

13 min: "As I'm sure many other pedants and non-pedants reading this will be aware, compound adjectives only need hyphen if the phrase is otherwise ambiguous," writes Tom Broder, in response to Alex Smith. "There is no ambiguity in 'cheaply assembled'." Free-kick to Arsenal, in line with the right-hand side of the penalty area. Robin van Persie's effort is high, wide and dismal.

17 min: Alex Song runs the ball out of the Arsenal defence and pings it up the right touchline to Theo Walcott, taking Zabaleta out of the equation. Momentary dithering by Walcott allows the City left-back to sprint frantically and retrieve the situation. Elsewhere in the Premier League: Wolves 1-0 Chelsea, Everton 1-0 Spurs, Newcastle 1-0 West Ham.

19 mins: Theo Walcott tries to scamper in behind the Manchester City defence along the byline, but runs so fast that his little legs resemble a cartoon blur, his feet eventually stop touching the ground and he falls over.

20 min: James Milner gets booked for a body-check on Bacari Sagna.

20 min: Talk about defending high up the pitch - Walcott goes down injured after putting in a robust challenge on Pablo Zabaleta in the Manchester City left-back position. The Arsenal winger needs treatment, but doesn't look too badly hurt.

22 min: Walcott's fit to continue and returns to the battle-field. His next contribution of note is to turn Zabaleta, who had been distracted by a Van Persie decoy run, and drag a low shot across the face of goal and wide of the left upright.

24 min: "I've never read one of your MBMs in high def before," writes Knowles. "What I like to do is set Internet Explorer to 200% zoom and set the page to auto-update then stick my computer on the otherside of the room. Makes it more exciting, like watching telly. Not boring like reading stupid words." Free-kick for Manchester City, wide on the right touchline, about 20 yards from the byline.

26 min: The aforementioned free-kick is swung in towards the far post, where Sagna misjudges the flight of the dropping ball. It drops for Tevez, who miscontrols but manages to win a corner, from which nothing comes.

27 min: Arsenal hit the woodwork again! And then again! Nasri slaloms forward, then holds the ball up before squaring a delightfully weighted pass for Fabregas, whose low drive rattles the left upright. It ricochets acorss the six-yard box to the feet of Walcott, who rattles the right upright with a diagonal drive from a narrow angle. The dust settles and it transpires that Walcott was offside. Fabregas wasn't.

29 min: Nigel De Jong gets booked. I'm not sure why, but Sky analyst Andy Gray thinks it was very harsh, so he probably deserved it.

30 min: The camera pans to Roy Keane, who is sitting in the stands, wearing a flat cap and deep in conversation with somebody. His Ipswich Town side play Arsenal in the FA Cup this weekend. Good luck with that one, Keano.

32 min: Carlos Tevez sprints out of the Manchester City half with the ball at his feet and pings the ball wide to Micah Richards before sprinting forward. He times his run beautifully to stay onside as he advances down the inside left position, chests down the return pass and shoots a few feet over. Good effort - it would have been a goal of the season contender if he'd manged to send the ball dipping below the bar.

35 min: "By now I'm probably the 348th person to point this out but Arsenal play Leeds in the FA Cup this weekend," writes Ed Martinez, who is the first person to point this out. "We play Keane's Ipswich in midweek in the Carling Cup semi." Of course, sorry about that. And again, good luck with that one, Roy.

37 min: And good luck with your one, Simon Grayson, if you happen to be sitting in the stands at the Emirates, wearing a flat cap or any other kind of headwear.

38 min: After being sent sprinting down the inside right channel, Theo Walcott gets to the byline and tries to send in a cross. From point-blank range, he hits the ball off Vincent Kompany's arm and appeals for a penalty. He gets a corner.

39 min: From the corner, the ball falls to Robin van Persie on the edge of the penalty area. He tries to whip the ball between Joe Hart and his left upright, but succeeds only in shooting straight at the goalkeeper.

40 mins: Arsenal attack again, winning another corner when van Persie and Walcott combine, only for the latter to ping the return pass a little too far ahead of the former, allowing Nigel De Jong to block his shot, which is deflected over the bar. Nothing comes from the corner.

42 min: A rare Manchester City sortie into Arsenal's half comes unstuck when Joe gifts the ball to Alex Song with a loose pass. That's very sloppy.

43 min: Ah, here we go ... it's time for Arsenal to start Arsenaling the ball around after a first half in which most of their attacking players seemed refreshingly eager to shoot on sight rather than walk the ball into the net, as is customary. With the ball at his feet on the edge of the Manchester City penalty area, there's a huge gap to Kolo Toure's right for Theo Walcott to exploit, but he tries a too-clever-by-half reverse pass to Van Persie, which gets caught in the legs of a thicket of Manchester City defenders.

45+1 min: There'll be two minutes of injury time, including this one.

Half-time. Well, that was a rattling good half of football. Both sides will go in for their half-time brews absolutely agog that it's still scoreless. While I'm not sure Fabianski has had anything to do beyond kicking the ball out a couple of times, Manchester City's goal has led a seriously charmed life. They could have no complaints about being three or four down by now. Their defending has been as obdurate as their lack of ambition has been breath-taking.

Half-time analysis: "It shouldn't be 'cheaply-assembled'," writes Miranda Chaytor. "When an adverb ending in 'ly' modifies a participle or adjective no hyphen is needed. 'Arsenal's free-flowing style' - yes, hyphen required - but 'their beautifully taken goal' - always unhyphenated because 'ly' is already doing the work. Check in out in the Oxford University Press style guide or the Chicago Manuel of Style."

"And 'battle-field' doesn't need a hyphen either," adds Ms Chaytor, who sounds like she's great fun on a night out. "It's 'battlefield', one word."

Bah. I'm off to get a cup of greenish-grey weak tea for myself from the office machine. I'll look forward to reading a clutch of missives about my incorrect use of the hyphen in the phrase "greenish-grey" from Miranda Chaytor when I get back.

Elsewhere in the Premier League: The only sign of a potential upset is at Molineux, where Wolves are one up against Chelsea. And before you send in your emails, I write that in the full knowledge that Blackburn are two up against Liverpool at Ewood Park. You can get all the latest scores here.

Second half: Jo and Carlos Tevez get the ball rolling for the second half. There are no changes in personnel on either side.

46 min: Bacari Sagna goes down injured after getting his ankle stamped on by Jo. It looked accidental and after a rub with the magic sponge, he's fit to continue.

47 min: "I have married a woman with a masters in English and when we first started going out I was very conscious of my spelling and grammar," writes Bruce Cooper. "I would repeatedly reread emails so I wouldn't look like an idiot in front of my new girlfriend. Now seven years later after much practice I have some really goodly English writing skills."

48 min: Arsenal take up where they left off, but their latest wave of attack founders when the linesman waves his flag for offside.

49 min: Robin van Persie tries a shot from distance, but his wild slash comes closer to hitting the corner flag than the the Manchester City goal.

50 min: It looks like it's going to be one of those nights for the Gunners. Walcott looks through on goal with only Hart to beat after staying on his feet after contesting a 50-50 ball with Pablo Zabaleta, who goes to ground. But the ball doesn't break kindly for him in the wake of the jarring tackle and Hart and his left-back get out of jail.

53 min: Cesc Fabregas plays a slide-rule pass down the inside right position for Walcott to chase to the byline. Zabaleta intervenes and concedes a corner with a marvellous tackle. The Argentinian defender has been very impressive tonight. He's been the standout performer in Manchester City's back nine.

54 min: Arsenal play the corner short, carving out an opportunity for Van Persie to drill in a cross. He chooses instead to shoot from a ridiculously narrow angle, sending the ball wide. Wasteful.

56 min: "Not only would I not regard a Blackburn victory as an upset," writes Patrick Crumlish, "but the way the league has been this eason and given how poor Chelsea have been for the last two months, the score from Molineux doesn't surprise me either. Ancelotti for Liverpool!"

57 min: "You could tell your pedantic friend it's actually The Chicago Manual of Style," writes Sean Moore. "Or to give her the full edit: 'Check it out in the Oxford University Press Style Guide or the Chicago Manual of Style' Takes a pedant to know a pedant, I guess."

59 min: Jo goes down injured after somebody - I didn't see exactly who - wafts a hand in his general direction. Get. Up. You. Nancy.

60 min: Jo makes a miraculous recovery and Arsenal go on the attack again. From 25 yards out, the ball is pinged to Robin van Persie who shoots on sight. Jo Hart scampers two steps to his right, dives and makes a great save. Van Persie's surface-to-air effort looked to be heading for the top left-hand corner.

61 min: Gael Clichy curls a cross into the Manchester City penalty area. Pablo Zabaleta heads clear.

63 min: Samir Nasri takes on and beats Kolo Toure, but dinks the ball too far ahead of him, allowing brother Yaya to put a stop to his gallop.


64 min: Manchester City substitution: the utterly ineffective Jo off, 1950s throwback Adam Johnson on.

66 min: Manchester City win a corner, forcing the Arsenal defence to wake from their long slumber. Adam Johnson swings the ball in towards the far post, where it's hoofed clear.


67 min: Arsenal substitution: Theo Walcott off, Andrei Arshavin on. Young Master Walcott doesn't look one bit happy about that.

69 min: Bolton have gone one up against Wigan in tonight's glamour encounter. There are goals flying in all over the place, except here, at Villa Park where Sunderland are playing, or off the boots of anyone in my fantasy football team. Gah!

71 min: Arsenal attack City's right flank and Fabregas tries to square the ball from the side of the penalty area. Kolo Toure averts the danger with a last-ditch lunge.

72 min: Robin van Persie goes down with what looks like a painful hip injury, then limps to the sideline to have it kissed better.

73 min: "Adam Johnson should feel right at home becaus there's a few Teddy-boy wannabes out there tonight, most notably Van Persie and Fabregas," writes Dave White in Kual Lumpur. "Andrey Arshavin's hair, however, looks like mine did when I was five and my mum cut it for me. How much does he get paid again?"

75 min: [Minute-by-minute reporter clambers on soapbox and clears throat] While I have no particular love for Arsenal, I really hope they win this match because Manchester City's negative tactics are appalling. I know football's a results business, but surely a team assembled at such huge expense has some sort of duty to entertain and try to score a goal at least, if not win. Roberto Mancini's going to have a pain in his shoulder from waving his arm to instruct his players to defy their natural instincts and hang back defending for 90 minutes. He's a disgrace.

79 min: Manchester City get the ball to the edge of the final third and several of their players suffer nosebleeds. Shocked at finding the ball at his feet with the chance of actually sending a cross into the oppostition penalty area, James Milner becomes transfixed like a rabbit in headlights and allows Alex Song to dispossess him.


81 min: Arsenal substitution: Jack Wilshere off, Nicklas Bendtner on.

82 min: Bendtner tries to tee up Nasri on the edge of the Manchester City penalty area, but the Frenchman runs into a wall of sky blue.

84 min: Some interesting latest scores here. "What are the odds against three Premier League managers - Hodgson, Grant and Ancelotti - losing their jobs tonight?" asks Roy Cross. I wouldn't know, but I can see a team of sports news editors, sub-editors and layout men at the banks of desks in front of me, on their knees saying a decade of the rosary in the hope that none of them will get the bullet before tomorrow.

85 min: At least I think that's why they're on their knees.


88 min: After a sideline tussle, Bacary Sagna goes quite literally head-to-head with Pablo Zabaleta and both men get sent off. That's very harsh on Zabaleta, as the Arsenal player was very much the aggressor there.


89 min: Ha ha, you couldn't make this up. From the array of defensive midfielders and defenders on his bench (there are no strikers among City's subs), Mancini sends on Jerome Boateng in place of Carlos Tevez. "Boring, boring City! Boring, boring City!" sing the Emirates crowd, rounding off their sing-song with a chorus of "You're shit and you know you are!" Far be it from me to condone effing and jeffing, but I couldn't disagree with much of that.

90+2 min: "I'm puzzled as to your mention of other reasons for your co-workers to be on their knees," writes Mike Hanton. "Either you were so engrossed by the game that you failed to notice a hostage situation developing or ... oh." Exactly. This is your pinko liberal Guardian after all, where anything goes.

90+3 min: Arsenal win a free-kick in the third of four minutes of injury time. It's 35 yards out, Robin van Persie strikes the ball and ...

90+4 min: ... gets it on target. Hart saves easily.

90+5 min: Peep! Peep! Peep! It's all over. Arsenal's players walk off shaking their heads in disbelief, while some of City's trudge off to a chorus of boos from the home crowd. They look - dare I say it - embarrassed; Joe Hart certainly does. That was a disgracefully negative and cowardly effort by the world's richest football club. If their die-hard supporters can honestly say they're genuinely happy with that rubbish, they really need to reassess why it is they started going to watch football in the first place.

Elsewhere in the Premier League: Wolves have beaten Chelsea by the only goal of the game at Molineux, Aston Villa have lost 1-0 at home to Sunderland and Newcastle have tonked West Ham 5-0. In the late kick-offs, Liverpool have lost 3-1 against Venky's Chicken, Bolton and Wigan drew one apiece and Everton ran out 2-1 victors over Spurs.

Post-match comments: "Sir Alex Ferguson must be tidying the trophy cabinet as we speak," writes Ultan Ryan, who may have been perusing

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