City close gap with a thrashing of the league leaders

MANCHESTER CITY                   6    -   3       ARSENAL  

Aguero 14, Negredo 39, Fernandinho  50,88.                                             Walcott 31,63   Mertesacker 90+4 

Silva 66, Toure 90+5    

SCOREBOARD Shows crazy scoreline : Mirror.co.uk

  

Manchester City and Arsenal played out an enthralling classic at the Etihad Stadium, with Arsenal suffering their first defeat in 5 games with Manchester City Attacking play being too much to deal with for the Gunners as the Blues beat top of the league Arsenal 6-3.

Both sides played in Europe midweek, with Arsenal losing to Napoli 2-0 in Naples and City beating the European Champions in Bayern Munich 3-2 at the Allianz Arena, so going into the game City will have been the side with slightly more confidence heading into the big clash between the two giants in the Premier League. 

The game pitted Arsenal who had the best defensive record in the league away from home against the side with the best attack at home in the league in Manchester City, so this set up the game nicely and the hype for an explosive game between the two proved not to disappoint either. 

From kick off the match was played at break neck speed, with both teams playing fast flowing attacking football, as City took the game to Arsenal in the opening 5 minutes of play. The visitors were on the back foot at the opening exchanges, with the home side putting pressure on the North London side from the off and had a couple of early corners in which they managed to deal with and weather the early storm.

Arsenal started to get into the game more after a worrying opening 10 minutes of play, as they then turned the tables on the hosts with them enjoying more possession when they started to create a few attacks that didn`t really come of anything, as the Blue defence held firm and saw both sides have chances.

Theo Walcott then put a cross to the back post for Luke Wilshire to try and smash home, but the England man managed to shoot his effort horribly wide of the target and see the ball fortunately go to Walcott and saw the attack snuffed out.

City who had scored 29 goals at the Etihad Stadium prior to kick off in the league alone this season, saw them add to their total, when a outswinging corner kick by Samir Nasri got flicked on by Martin Demichelis and saw Sergio Aguero volley in the ball in far top corner, to give City the 1-0 lead after 14th minutes of play.

City were buoyed by the goal and looked to be in control after Aguero`s goal, where they tried to use their build up play and possession to stop Arsenal getting back in the contest.

Alvaro Negredo nearly doubled the lead for the home side, when City Captain Vincent Kompany little dribble and through ball to Negredo, saw the Spanish hit man pull his shot wide of the near post.

Sergio Aguero wheels away after scoring opener: metro.co.uk

Arsenal were still coming at City, using their pace to cause problems for the Blues,  a theme ran throughout the game as the pitch seemed to be on slope, in which whenever one side attacked the play would be stopped and go right back up the other end and saw the opponent`s carve out a chance. The game was such an action packed one and lived up to the hype from the first whistle, in which you hardly had time to catch your breath with the fast paced game on view, which included so much Attacking talent on show.

Negredo picked up a yellow card for a foul on Arsenal`s Monreal and from that free kick, Walcott put a free kick in which wasn`t dealt with properly by City Keeper Costel Pantillimon, who chose to punch it instead of catching it and put his side under more pressure.

Arsenal then drew level after a horrible error by Yaya Toure in the middle of the park, as Luke Wilshire took the ball off the Ivorian midfielder and led a charge with Mesut Ozil, who had been pretty non existant in the game to that point, the German International saw the run of Theo Walcott and his pass was tucked away round Demichelis, who may deflected it but the end result was a goal for the Visitors in the 31st minute and the City keeper really should have done better.

Walcott strike draws Gunners level  PIC:various

Arsenal had their tails up now in the game, as they came forward and their style of play can lead to counter attacks for the other side and it nearly cost them as well, when a City attack found Negredo free and the striker tried to bend it in and the ball went just went wide of the target with Negredo usual accuracy not there at the moment for the home side.

City attacking play brought them a second goal thanks to great vision by Yaya Toure, as he played ball out wide with the outside of his foot towards Pablo Zabaleta who fantastically control it and then played a fizzing ball across the face of goal where upon "the Beast" finally convert a effort into a goal, with Negredo putting home at the near post for 2-1 in the 39th minute.

Negredo scores for 2-1   PIC:espn.com 

In the aftermath of the goal, as City were celebrating the goal Thomas Koscielny who had been involved in both goals conceded, looked to have picked up a freak injury when the defender stood up from the goal he then went straight back down to the pitch again, as his knee seemed to give way and he was in a great deal of pain that forced Arsene Wenger into a change as Thomas Vermaelen came on for the injured defender.

City almost had a third before half time, when a Martin Demichelis header went whistling close from a Samir Nasri`s out-swinging corner, as he header just went over the bar.

Towards the end of the half, one moment summed up the game as Monreal was challenged by Zabaleta twice with a couple of strong but fair challenges and it shown how the two sides were playing hard aggressive football and both sides were up for the challenge, which made for a great game of football too as the half ended in favour of the home side.

Sergio Aguero then went off after two minutes in the second half after the Argentine striker picked up a Calf injury after he made a little touch pass to David Silva in a build up.

Jesus Navas came on for the Striker, where upon Manuel Pellegrini saw him change his sides formation from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 system instead.

Vincent Kompany then suddenly had a rush of blood, as he dribbled from half way in his own half to near the corner flag in the other half, before putting in a poor cross as the run took it out of it him, David Silva then committed a foul and collected the first Yellow card of the game.

Any worries City fans had of the team falling apart was answered soon after, when Fernandinho collected a ball that was meant for Flamini from  Ozil and the Brazilian midfielder opened his Scoring account for the Blues, with some Brazilian magic as he curled a magnificent strike round Szczesny for a 3-1 lead to the home side and you kind of expected City to hammer home their advantage from that point but they didn`t and gave Arsenal a chance to get back into the game as City had all but gone to sleep now after their third goal. 

The signs of reply was coming, when Wilshire floated a ball to the far side for Giroud and the Frenchman blasted high and wide over the bar for Arsenal.

Olivier Giroud then looked foolish, when he tried to put a cross into the area but instead kicked the ball away with standing leg and watched it go out of play as the home crowd laughed and enjoyed the comedy moment from the Arsenal player.

Those laughs were nearly silenced soon after, when moments later a build up play by Arsenal saw Bacary Sagny whip a beautiful cross in and Giroud just headed inches wide as City breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Arsenal were in the ascendancy as they looked likely to score next having  stifled City play, Ozil was the only Arsenal player pulling weight for the Gunners as he looked anything but a world class player as he seemed to be missing for Arsenal in a game they needed him the most.

Arsenal had an appeal for a penalty turned down, when Wilshire ball into the box was stopped by Zabaleta when the ball bounced off the Argentine defender`s leg onto his arm and was cleared away for a corner, a decision which had Arsenal players incensed.

Walcott celebrates 2nd goal  PIC:itv.com

Arsenal were in control of the game at that stage with City struggling to wrestle control back after their 3rd goal, as Wenger`s men were very much still in the contest even at 3-1 down.

Theo Walcott grabbed his second of the game after a little dink over the City back line by Ozil, saw Walcott then curve a shot to the far corner over the tall Pantilimon for a 3-2 score line in the 61st minute with a great goal and had the home side in danger of possibly losing their way in the contest.City had tried to play their way back into the game as the home side were coming under pressure and the pressure got to them, when Arsenal build up play brought a well crafted goal.

Every time one of the sides scored, it was the other team that responded to a goal being score against them and it took just four minutes for City to show their response.

When in the 65th minute, Jesus Navas had Monreal in a pickle and his ball into the area was diverted into the net by fellow Spaniard David Silva to regain their two goal lead as they led 4-2.

Arsenal by now had lost their composure and wasn`t the same after City`s 4^th goal went in. Luke Wilshire then had a balst from outside the area saved as the 6 foot 8 tall City goalkeeper, made an important save as he palmed the Midfielder shot over the bar for a corner kick.

Manchester City then seemed to have finally wrestle control back of the game and never let it go again, as they squeezed the life out of Arsenal and forced them in to  lot of errors at the back.

Jesus Navas then nearly scored a goal himself, when Samir Nasri and Navas combined after dispossessing the Arsenal man near the touchline and from the following play, saw Navas knock it past the keeper and with a tight angle to shoot at hit it in the side netting and let Arsenal off the hook.

Arsenal then swapped Olivier Giroud for Nicklas Bendtner and had some travelling fans scratching their heads over the decision to take off a striker for another when they needed to be trying to score.

Zabaleta and Toure then combined and saw the Ivorian run at the Arsenal defence as the play was being stretched now and his shot went just past the post and the Gunners were being out run and dismantled now, they had lost all shape and discipline as well as being torn apart by Pellegrini troops.

Samir Nasri was having a great game again for the Blues and saw him blow his chance to score against is former side as he hit it high over the bar and then a minute later, Wilshire was dispossessed by Fernandino and saw City go on another attack led by the Brazilian.

Fernandihno makes it 5-2: pic:habergazzette.com

He played it out towards Nasri, who you knew was desperate to score against his old side and when he chose not to be selfish he played the ball back to Fernandinho who then finished off the attack with a little dink over Szczesny to make it 5-2 and seemed to be the end of the scoring. Nicklas Bendtner then thought he scored with a header late on, only to see the flag was up for offside though replays shown that was just on side

Arsenal then scored a 3^rd goal in this crazy match as it all came after a Theo Walcott chance that saw Pantillimon stop the striker from getting a hat trick as he blocked his shot for a corner,  from the short corner a ball was played to Sagny who put in another good ball and had Per Mertesacker head home for 5-3.

You would have thought that was the end of the scoring in this classic if not bizarre game, but there was still time for one last goal 

German star Per Mertesacker tears into Mesut Ozil after the match  pic:BBC SPORTS

As literally a minute later City countered again with a little through ball by Fernandinho and saw James Milner brought down by Szczesny foot and gave Yaya Toure the chance to make it six for the home side and he did, with the midfielder dispatching the penalty kick for a 6-3 score and keep up their average of 4 goals a game at the Etihad Stadium. City`s win saw them close the gap to 3 points on the Gunners too and move them temporarily into 2nd position.

After the game Per Mertesacker was angered by Mesut Ozil at full time, when the German International was finger pointing and yelling at his team mate who chose not to go over to the travelling fans as he made his way down to the tunnel instead.