The trip to the Etihad was always going to be the toughest test yet for The Gunners, and despite providing one of the spectacles of the season, it was a miserable afternoon for Wenger’s men.

In defiance of Manchester City’s dominance at home, Arsene was keen not to play down Arsenal’s chances before the game. He asked for focus from the players, something that was always going to be a challenge after an intense trip to Napoli with only two days to recover. The general feeling amongst many of the Arsenal fans was a pessimistic one.

Relentless City

City’s attacking prowess put Arsenal under pressure from the very start. The Gunners looked weak down both wings early on, and City were ripe to exploit. Sagna, in his first game back from injury, was unable to keep up with the early intensity, and the quick movement of City eventually paid off for them.

Man City’s rested seven players, and had an extra days rest in their very impressive victory in Germany mid-week. This could explain Arsenal’s inability to keep up with them in the opening stages of the game. It was a victory that will bolster the Blues confidence, in a not dis-similar fashion to Arsenal’s victory at the Allianz Arena towards the end of last season.

City showed just why they were so difficult to beat at home. And once Arsenal were chasing the game, against a team as prolific as the Blues, there was always a high chance that it was going to escape them further.

Resilient Gunners

It cannot be said that Arsenals executed their game plan to perfection today. But, what they did show was strength in character that is becoming a welcomed asset to their season. It is to their credit that until the last ten minutes, City never looked in complete control of the game.

There is also a case that Arsenal were unlucky in the refereeing decisions today. A potential penalty and two extremely questionable offsides, meant Arsenal could have changed the tide of the game. It would be wrong however to place too much emphasis on this, as it was Arsenal’s lack of focus cost them the match.

In Walcott’s first start since coming back from injury, he showed exactly why he is an important member of this Arsenal squad. Apart from his two well taken goals, particularly the second, his forward runs caused City problems until the end and provided an outlet, the likes of which we haven’t seen much of this season.

Misguided passing game

Despite Walcott’s performance, really it should have been Giroud that was gaining the plaudits. There was a ten minute period after City’s third goal where the Frenchmen mishit a flurry of quick fire chances. He never looked completely comfortable in the game, and was denied the chance to hold up the ball by the resolute Kompany.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Arsenal’s performance was their passing display. Wenger had stressed before the game, that the best way to defence would be to attack, keep the ball and stay focused. Unfortunately, they struggled to keep the ball at all in the first half; three of Man City’s second half goals came from simple mistakes from Ozil, Wilshere and Gnarby, a lack of concentration that punished The Gunners.

The absence of rest and preparation time before the game, undoubtedly took its toll on Arsenal’s performance, and Wenger was quick to highlight this after the game. The tempo meant that Arsenal were always going to find it difficult in such circumstances, despite Arsene’s admission that they were had to accept such fixture listings.

Arsenal fans have been left thoroughly frustrated after the Everton game, and extremely disheartened by the result in Napoli, so if ever there was a game in which The Gunners were looking to stem the flow of bad form it would have been getting a result at The Etihad.

Despairingly, the last time we achieved this was when Nasri was in the side. This result in no way defines the Gunners season, but it does make the game against Chelsea and the games in the Christmas period even more important.

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