arsenal vs manch city

By Richard Clarke at Emirates Stadium

Arsenal slipped to their fifth Premier League defeat of the season as Manchester City triumphed 2-0 at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

James Milner and Eden Dzeko grabbed the goals as Roberto Mancini’s side racked up their first league victory in N5 for almost 38 years.

However the game swung on the ninth-minute incident that saw Laurent Koscielny sent off for hauling down Dzeko. The striker would miss the resulting penalty but Arsenal never recovered from the reduction in their ranks.

By the half-hour, the home side were 2-0 down. By the time Vincent Kompany was dismissed to even the numbers with 15 minutes left, Arsenal were worn out from chasing the game.

Wenger’s men had responded manfully in the second half but few sides could cope with being undermanned for so long against the Premier League champions.

A disappointing day for Arsenal.

The most eye-catching element of the team news was the return of Abou Diaby. The French midfielder had impressed during a run-out in the under-21s on Wednesday so, with Mikel Arteta (calf) out, Wenger restored him to his line-up for the first time since the defeat to Chelsea on September 29.