Pre-match
Mark Hughes had to take a pre-match blow on the chin with Stevie Ireland ruled out by the ankle injury he picked up in training on Thursday. The goalscoring midfielder, who tormented Arsenal in the reverse fixture, was not even on the trip. But Craig Bellamy passed a fitness test on his knee, and Wayne Bridge had recovered from a hamstring tweak.
Arsene Wenger welcomed back his influential skipper and midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who had been out for three months, but was without injured Holland striker and top scorer Robin van Persie.
The Match
Robinho, who has been criticised for not putting in the hard graft away from home, earned a cheer from City fans in the first minute by tracking back and scuffling the ball off Emmanuel Adebayor just outside his own box.
Then he was straight up the other end to combine with Craig Bellamy, who neatly sprung the offside trap, before Nigel de Jong stepped up to hit a decent effort that Mabnuel Almunia saved at the foot of his left-hand post.
It was all too good to be true for the eager Brazilian, and his “get stuck in” attitude rebounded on the Blues after eight minutes when Robinho’s shoulder barge on Bacary Sagna offered Arsenal a dangerous free kick.
Fabregas, with his first meaningful touch of the ball in three months, flighted a great ball towards the back of Shay Given’s six-yard box where Adebayor waited at the back of the bunch to punch home a powerful header between Given and Nigel de Jong.
It was starting to look like another of those afternoons for the Blues, with Bellamy wincing away from a Kolo Toure tackle that caught his sore knee, and Bridge having to limp off after 17 minutes, presumably with a recurrence of his hamstring, to be replaced by Gelson Fernandes.
Skipper Richard Dunne went into Howard Webb’s book a few minutes later for brining down midfielder Denilson from behind as City battled to stay with their hosts, but Toure almost nicked another after twisting past Pablo Zabaleta only to fire straight at Given at his near post.
Arsenal looked in the mood to properly avenge that 3-0 defeat in November, their last in the Premier League, but SWP almost turned the tables with a brilliant run after tricking his way past Gael Clichy - his pass slipped Micah Richards through but the marauding defender’s fierce shot was comfortably saved by Almunia.
However, the Blues really should have been level after half an hour when Wright-Phillips’ neat pass found Fernandes unmarked in the penalty area. The substitute, who scored for Switzerland on international duty last week, had a lot to aim at but hit the outside of Almunia’s left-hand post with the keeper beaten.
Theo Walcott needed treatment after a hard but totally fair tackle from Pablo Zabaleta, and the home crowd grew more indignant as Toure was shown a yellow card for a cynical hack that felled the bubbly Robinho.
Hughes was forced to make another change before half time with Vincent Kompany hobbling off and Elano coming on. Robi welcomed his fellow Brazilian by setting up a shot that scudded just wide of Almunia’s post.
Arsenal started the second half with real intent, and it took them only three minutes to score a second goal. Star man Fabregas delivered a sublime chipped pass over Dunne and Adebayor, who had pulled away from the skipper, controlled superbly before stepping around Given to tap the ball home.
The same combination tested the Blues keeper again a couple of minutes later. If Wenger had told his players to go out and finish the game as quickly as they could, this was how they would have gone about their business.
William Gallas even joined in with a surging run into the penalty area to receive a pinpoint long cross from Walcott, and even his skied angled attempt on Given’s goal earned a great cheer from home fans.
Walcott, beginning to look a real danger, shimmied his way through on the right only for Dunne to boot clear before his pull-back could reach Adebayor then the young England player teased another good save from Given.
That was Walcott’s last act, being replaced after 70 minutes by Emmanuel Eboue as fit-again Nicklas Bendtner also took the field in place of Adebayor, who received a predictable Emirates ovation.
But that was surpassed by the cheers that followed Fabregas down the tunnel when he came off after 79 minutes. Arsenal were still chasing the elusive third goal at the end as Bendtner miscued a good opportunity.
