The most anticipated encounter this weekend was between Manchester City and Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium with both teams in need of all three points. Arsenal needed the points to continue their climb up the table and to move closer to the top 4, failure to do so would pile up more misery on an under fire manager Arsene Wenger.
City on the other hand could not afford to lose points after Chelsea went on to thrash Swansea 5-0 away from home and increase the gap at the top of the Premier League Table. It was a clash that was psychological in nature as well for City needed to send an equal message to their title rivals about their ability to come catching at the League leaders.
Arsenal started with Cazorla while Ramsey also made his appearance in the Arsenal squad after a long absence. City on the other hand welcomed back their captain Vincent Kompany after an injury, while they were missing their star man Yaya Toure and new signing Wilfried Bony due to the players on International duty in African Cup of Nations.
City started livelier of the two teams as expected but Arsenal were resilient and were stretching City on the counter attack with their impressive attacking lineup. It wasn’t long when the speed and cohesion worked for Arsenal when Kompany brought down Nacho Monreal in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Cazorla calmly slotted the ball in the net to take the gunners 1 goal up.
Arsenal continued to play on the counter, inviting City. Manchester City kept knocking the door in search for an equalizer but it was Giroud who scored on the other end at the 67th minute to put the game to bed. A calm header saw Arsenal beat the host 2-0 and put a serious dent to the title charge.
Manchester City now have an uphill battle to catch Chelsea and their recent slip will make it pretty tough to overthrow an in-form Chelsea team.
Final Score: Manchester City 0-2 Arsenal
Barclays Premier League: Arsenal dent City's title charge!
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