Premier League - City heap more misery on Arsenal

Eurosport - Sun, 23 Nov 10:05:00 2008

Manchester City piled more pressure on troubled Arsenal by beating them 3-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium.

FOOTBALL 2008/09 Premier League Manchester City's Stephan Ireland celebrates scoring against Arsenal with Vincent Kompany and Darius Vassell. - 0

Goals from Stephen Ireland, Robinho and a late penalty from Daniel Sturridge handed the Gunners - still reeling from the comments made by defender William Gallas and the Frenchman's subsequent exclusion from the squad and sacking from his role as captain - their fifth league defeat of the season.

City began to take the initiative as a stuttering first half drew to a close, and they took a deserved lead in stoppage time when Ireland's drive forward ended with him calmly knocking the ball past Manuel Almunia - who had been given the captain's armband in Gallas's absence.

The Gunners created chances to equalise following the break but a swift City counter-attack culminated with Brazilian Robinho latching on to a Shaun Wright-Phillips through-ball and chipping a perfectly weighted effort over the stranded Almunia to double the lead.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger threw on two of his young attacking players in an attempt to prise something from the match, but first Aaron Ramsey and then Carlos Vela could not make a telling contribution on the match, although Ramsey released Nicklas Bendtner with virtually his first touch, only for the Dane to dither in front of goal and see the chance lost.

The Londoners' nightmare 24 hours was completed by Sturridge in second-half stoppage time. The young striker was on as a substitute for Robinho, who appeared to hurt himself after missing an excellent one-on-one chance with 10 minutes remaining.

The 19-year-old was brought down in the area by Johan Djourou and coolly sent Almunia the wrong way from the spot himself to give manager Mark Hughes his first league win in five matches.

In addition to Gallas, Arsenal were missing injured duo Theo Walcott and Emmanuel Adebayor and the suspended Cesc Fabregas, thought the latter at least will be available again for the match at Chelsea next Sunday.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

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  1. don't have that keeper, you must have Alluminia, otherwise it would have been Lehmann, maybe because Wenger has released Lehmann, that is where the trouble comes in, im a fan of Man City, and the players i want to be like are Robinho and Ireland. I also like Rotherham United, Shefield United, Liverpool and Aston Villa, especially Gabriel Agbonlahor who I run like to be honest.

    From benwhitehead@..., on Sun 23 Nov 9:13AM
  2. nasri

    From hamidabdelslam, on Sun 23 Nov 9:11AM
  3. Arsene Wenger is just gay, and mardy. Thinks that some players are deliberately trying to injure his, why did he have to get rid of Gallas, he was good. He deserved the right to be captain, Arsene Wenger can get the boot with his behaviour, its either that or Arsenal go to the Conference League. From Ben Whitehead, on Sunday 23 November, at 9:08 A.M.

    From benwhitehead@..., on Sun 23 Nov 9:08AM
  4. So glad to see the Arsenal performing so badly! Wenger, Fabreg, Adebayor and Gallas should take a long hard look at themselves. The past month they have all publicly made ill-judged comments about the quality of opposing teams and the tactics some of their opponents deploy when playing against them. A run of bad results and they are now even arguing amongst themselves. Maybe they should keep their big mouths closed off the pitch and try doing some constructive talking on the pitch (instead of the bickering). I reckon Spurs ladies might get a draw against the Gooners 1st team at the moment. Ha ha....

    From alex d, on Sun 23 Nov 8:58AM
  5. Can we all remember that Arsenal were beaten by man city, they didn't just go out and stand about. They did the best they could, but were played off the pitch by a group of footballers, not actors, displaying their real talent.

    City forever.

    From erasmac@..., on Sun 23 Nov 8:07AM
  6. THE MODERN ARSENAL FAN NEEDS TO DECIDE WHETHER THEY WANT STYLE WITH SOME SUBSTANCE ( OCCASIONAL TROPHIES) OR .SUBSTANCE WITH SOME STYLE (FREQUENT TROPHIES).
    ARSENE IS A GENIUS , BUT HIS ARTISTS HAVE ALWAYS HAD A BIT OF THE PRIMA DONNA .WHEN THEY'RE GOOD THEY'RE VERY VERY GOOD (1998 , 2002 , 2004 ) ,BUT WHEN THEY'RE BAD THEY.RE HORRID ( LIKE NOW).HE HAS NEVER REPLACED THE GREAT DEFENCE THAT GEORGE GRAHAM LEFT HIM , AND HES TRIED TO FILL THE GAP WITH SKILLED MIDFIELDERS. YOU CANT HAVE EVERYTHING

    From paul.d.dawson@..., on Sun 23 Nov 8:06AM
  7. Arsenal are not doing very well in the Barclays Premier League this season. They lost Yesterday 3-0 against Manchester city , Manchester city got the job done they won at home. Arsene Wenger needs to prepare for the "Transfer Market" . He may lose some of his class players like Cesc Fabregas and some of the younger ones. Wenger should get some class players. Wenger needs to do some more formations. If Arsenal are not included in the top 10 of the table he needs better players. Arsenal need to win more match`s. I am not saying that Arsene Wenger is rubbish but he needs to improve a lot. He should get better soon. Everybody will probably be wondering which players he`s getting when the Transfer Market Opens.

    From Nathan, on Sun 23 Nov 6:44AM
  8. mancity till i die. i cant wait to see our city demolish man united on saturday,as for arsenal ha ha ha ha

    From Ifeanyi, on Sun 23 Nov 6:13AM
  9. im a gunner fan and still love the club although we aint preforming.
    we might be out for league title but we still a force in champions league.
    maybe we do a liverpool where we do bad in EPL and triump in CL.
    in Arsen we trust!

    From Araw, on Sun 23 Nov 6:11AM
  10. Everton fan here (yeah I know), I agree with Farid, I respect Wenger for what he has achieved at Arsenal and for his brand of football, all done without £££££many. Obviously I don't know the full story but I think he should have backed Gallas, an inspirational player who you need on your side when the going gets tough

    From aitch, on Sun 23 Nov 5:33AM
  11. well I`m Man Utd fan. I am happy to see our arch rivals Arsenal`s recent disaster. big time over and over. They beat us and the world is over for the naives. Where is the consistancy of the stubburns? Grow up guys. I have big respect for Arsen Wenger. He is such a world class coach but the all yougsters deserve to go thru discplinary lessons. Don`t only blame Gallas but also the entire team. Ofcourse, they should learn mutual respect. Grow up guys, grow up!!! run forest run!

    From Farid A, on Sun 23 Nov 5:05AM
  12. I'll tell ya what you need! Start supporting a real team like liverpool!

    From padhraic, on Sun 23 Nov 3:40AM
  13. Hahaha. You arsebandits are dropping like a stone. Just a bunch of whining, arrogant, clueless kids now. Aluminium is turning out to be another typical Arse captain; devoid of skill, leadership and toughness. Ha ha ha. No Champs league next year, that's for sure.

    From Theodore, on Sun 23 Nov 3:37AM
  14. Even though they lost again they are still up there in the table, Arsenal will bounce back i'm sure of it. Who was the moron saying sack Wenger? That'd be like getting rid of Fergie from United. Wenger is the heart and soul of that team if he went truly you would be f***** !!

    From terdo@..., on Sun 23 Nov 2:27AM
  15. it does not matter how many games we lose or how many cups we lose as long as we are above tottenham thaats all that counts when was the last time they beat us in the league i forgot was nit 18 yrs

    From abdu, on Sun 23 Nov 2:01AM
  16. i mean arsenal win only be 5 points behind man u if man u win their game in hand...

    From Unknown U, on Sun 23 Nov 1:51AM
  17. Wenger only had to put Gallas straight on the discretion of the dressing room - by leaving him out of the squad he's punished the entire team - oh well, it's made the rest of us laugh! (I know you gunners will bounce back).

    From Paul, on Sun 23 Nov 1:50AM
  18. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED...WENGER...PLEASE LOOK AND LISTEN U IGNORANT FOOL

    ....................VAN PERSIE..............ADEBAYOR........................
    NA SRI........FABREGAS.................................... .VELA...............
    .................................. ..........DIABY........................................ .......
    CLICHY......TOURE.............GALLAS........... ...EBOUE............
    .................................. .FABIANSKI............................................. ..

    From Unknown U, on Sun 23 Nov 1:47AM
  19. remember this..arsenal r only 5 points behind man u

    From Unknown U, on Sun 23 Nov 1:41AM
  20. oh but i CAN hack it mare. i'm used to supporting a mediocre football team. thats why it feels good when loud mouth fans of the bigger teams have to get used to it also. arsenal are just a bunch of frog tw*ts.

    From mike s, on Sun 23 Nov 1:23AM
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