Arsenal 0 - 0 City: Match report

Arguments about style are all besides the point here - and mostly come from understandably frustrated Arsenal fans.  Arsenal, in fine form as they are, are capable of tearing most teams apart at the Emirates - a fact aptly displayed in a shaky opening ten minutes last night - so, to shut up shop and come away with a point is a great result for City, especially considering how close the sides are in the table.  Come the end of the season, the point (and preventing Arsenal from taking three) may be worth more than knowing we'd valiantly thrown everything into an away defeat.

Arsenal are renowned for playing the most attractive football in the country nowadays and their transformation from George Graham's methodical team of the early nineties to Wenger's school of footballing purity today would appear to lead them to demand the same from everyone else.  But it is more simple than that, most teams will go to the Emirates to defend - just as most teams come to Eastlands to defend (ones with means, such as United and Chelsea, as well as ones without) - it is just that this was an opportunity for Arsenal to get one over on their new rivals and they were mercilessly thwarted - which is as understandably frustrating for Arsenal fans, as it is a pleasing result for City fans.

It may have seemingly lacked any ambition, but it did show a resoluteness that City have only recently acquired.  Taking last night out of the equation, City have been playing quite open attacking football for a couple of months now.  This has largely been down to the combinations of David Silva and Yaya Toure.  If last night highlights anything it is how reliant City have become on David Silva as a creative force.  Yaya can do it, and in the first half he was our only real attacking threat (before he was pulled back in the second) but, without Silva's ability, there was no one else in midfield who was capable of putting their foot on the ball.

Arguably this is where the game became so difficult for us.  The skill and movement of Wilshere, Fabregas, Nasri et al, bypassed Barry and De Jong for most of the game (not helped by two particularly soft early bookings given to the pair) - and Barry's woeful passing, in particular, meant we rarely got a foothold on the game.  Yaya was then played in his Barcelona position for one of the first times since his arrival at the club - and this stout defence was enough to reduce Arsenal to long range efforts.  Joe Hart's excellent save from Van Persie's sweet strike was the closest Arsenal got after the opening quarter of an hour.

One would hope that common sense will prevail in the case of Zabaleta's red card.  If standing up to Sagna isn't a red card offence, then it will have to be rescinded.  It was such a nothing incident - Sagna's 'headbutts' were ridiculous and would probably be better classed as posturing, but in the murky world of FA rules, they may be enough for Sagna to retain his punishment.  The general stance on appeals seem to be: 'if something happened, leave it as it was; if nothing happened, remove the punishment.'  I would be surprised if Zabaleta doesn't get off.

It may not have been an entertaining watch, but the point is worth more to City than Arsenal - hence the din of frustration that met the final whistle.  A poor/tired midfield display made for a more uncomfortable contest than was presumably intended, but the end justifies the means and a point taken at the Emirates from an in form Arsenal team is about as good a result as I could have hoped for last night.