The reservations about Arsenal concern the occasional lack of cold-blooded efficiency since it is already so obvious that they possess burning talent. Whatever City had in mind, they were forced to put on a defensive performance throughout the first-half. It did not help that David Silva was missing through injury, but he might have had an enforced absence for at least a while since Arsène Wenger's side attacked with such incisive finesse for half-an-hour.
It would do City too much credit to say they had withstood the pressure when the woodwork provided key resistance. Robin van Persie, in the ninth minute, and Cesc Fábregas, 20 minutes later, both struck the post. The speed in the Arsenal ranks is great and the control with which possession is kept seems to accentuate it. City, all the same, did not succumb readily Regardless of the opulent budget, this is a line-up with much pragmatism in it.
That trait had to be complemented by luck in that first 45 minutes. A bid for the Premier League title must still feel like a novelty to City. As recently as two seasons ago they finished tenth. Nowadays they are a concern to the established elite and not just for the sort of budget that is about to bring in the Bosnia forward Edin Dzeko for £27m. The image of the club as wastrels has begun to look outdated now there is a severity under Roberto Mancini.
They are a side for others to worry about and Arsenal are just one club whose hopes of taking the title now are a little better than they will be if City continue with further recruitment of leading footballers. Wenger does not lack for talent, but his side has an ingrained habit of handicapping itself. In a match such as this you can sense the team willing itself to overcome inhibitions born of the disappointments.
Arsenal were still far too slick for City in those first 45 minutes and that comes through a rapport built up over a period, even if it is rather young line-up. When Wenger's team last played at home, however, they exposed the crumbling nature of Chelsea as the reigning champions could not cope with the swiftness and accuracy attacked in a 3-1 win.
City are different. Unlike Chelsea, they are coming to the fore and the away league games have suited them so well that they had scored 19 times in them before this contest. Only Arsenal have surpassed that, by a single goal. Whenever Mancini presents his side as rank outsiders for the title the only thing that can stop Sheikh Mansour from asking what, in that case, the point has been in spending so much is the knowledge that the manager is just deflecting attention. Even so, City had kept a dangerously low profile here in a first half when Arsenal would have deserved to lead by a goal or two. The previous away win for City against these opponents had come in 1975 and history was proving resistant to change.
If the whirl of Arsenal attacking was not quite at the same pace as it had been early in the night, it still made opponents grimace. All Wenger's man lacked was a trace of the cold-bloodedness to be a fraction more precise at the critical moment. City, though, still had to be content with confirming the endurance that is in them.
With an hour gone, Mancini can still have had only the most tentative hope that his side would ever impose itself. He had to settle for relief in the 61st minute when Joe Hart was tipping a 25-yarder from Van Persie over the bar. All that could have shaken Arsenal was the dread that they would be punished for not capitalising on their domination.
City, having endured such a barrage, ought to have been encouraged. They were at least in the opposition's half more often, but their opponents, with Andrey Arshavin on for Theo Walcott, could hope for scope on the counterattack. It was a struggle whose intensity seldom dipped.
Source: Kevin McCarra, The Guardian on 5 Jan 11
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