Whatever formula has been working for Manchester City thus far was not in evidence yesterday at Emirates Stadium.

The game seemed to go their way for the first 20 minutes, when Arsenal just took control and relentlessly charged upfield. Man City made a few nail biting runs at our goal a few times, but were mostly contained by the back line. We were frustrated on all attempts, even a penalty kick by RVP, by the amazing goalkeeping of Kasper Schmeichel. Schmeichel even managed to come down field and attempt a header on Almunia near the end, but it caromed off Bianchi and Almunia handled it nicely. Manuel Almunia did just as well as Schmeichel, in for the injured Jens Lehmann, making a few gorgeous saves and keeping the clean sheet for us. Finally, a nice flick past two defenders up the right by Alexandre Hleb set Cesc Fabregas up at 80′ for an absolute rocket of a ball which went right between Schmeichel’s hands and found the nylon. Emirates erupted. Simply gorgeous football.

Many of the players looked fantastic yesterday. It was great seeing Tomas Rosicky in there again. He had several nice attempts on goal. Alex Hleb looked terrific, as did Fabregas, Toure, et al. Sagna was doing well, but went off early with what appeared to be a back injury. Robin Van Persie was doing well but seemed to be frustrated up front by the Man City backline. And Emmanuel Adebayor, who we know is capable of great things, didn’t seem ready to be in there on his first game back from injury. At least not for 75 minutes. I was ready for Eduardo or Bendter after 55 minutes. There were several balls set up for Ade that probably should have been run down and shot, but he couldn’t get there. Eduardo came in for him at around 76′, I think. He looked good, although at times he seemed hesitant, where a bit more conviction would probably get him through. He’s still getting his bearings in English Football, so I’m pretty confident he’ll just get better and better.

Overall… tough, but great performance from the Gunners. Simply fantastic to watch this kind of football. They just kept fighting until the end and it paid off. Great work, fellows.