The most interesting part of the game was the battles between Patrick Vieira, Abou Diaby and Alex Song. Committed, physical and fair. I wanted to watch Diaby against Vieira ever since Abou came to Arsenal and was dubbed the new Vieira by all and sundry.

Match Review – Arsenal 0 Manchester City 0 – Premier League

Apologies for my thoughts being posted later than usual. I was involved in the Arseblog 5aside tournament which has taken its toll on my body. I feel like a mixture of Eduardo, Van Persie, Djourou and Darren Anderton. Not in a good way either.

I have eventually managed to rewatch the game after having to miss part of the second half on the day. I have since found out that I didn’t actually miss very much and could write this without watching the erm highlights. Not sure which parts were very high but still.

Firstly a quick note on the team selection, you have to feel sorry for Nicklas Bendtner who was shifted to the bench for the returning Robin Van Persie. Nine goals in his last twelve games is a pretty good case to put forward to the manager regardless of how good the returning player is.

I shall skim across the surface of this game because a) I have missed the boat on any informative views, everything has been said about the game already and b) not enough actually happened to warrant delving into the nitty gritty of the 98 minutes.

Manchester City showed their intentions with their starting line up. The blood thirsty Emirates crowd had to be patient as the villain had to make do with a place on the bench whilst the midfield contained Barry, De Jong and former Gunners legend Patrick Vieira playing at the Emirates stadium for the very first time.

The first thing I looked out for was the off the ball commitment from the Arsenal players. After the mess last weekend at Wigan. I expected nothing else. The whole team fought for the ball more than I have seen for a long time. Maybe it was because I was looking for it a little more but I am sure the team upped their work.

Even Theo was charging around throwing his weight around. It is this aspect of our game that has let us down in sections of the season. If we showed the same desire against City in all the rest of our games then our points total would have looked healthier. I cannot prove that to be the case but I can guarantee that Wigan would not have come away with three points last weekend.

The game was pretty much being played in the center of midfield, Manchester City set their stall out, camped ahead of their penalty area and attempted to play on the break.

The most interesting part of the game was the battles between Patrick Vieira, Abou Diaby and Alex Song. Committed, physical and fair. I wanted to watch Diaby against Vieira ever since Abou came to Arsenal and was dubbed the new Vieira by all and sundry. Diaby did very well in that department and gave as much if not more than he got. Alex Song looked as if he had never been away. He really has taken huge strides forward this year. He seems to have what Diaby does not always possess, and that is consistency.

The game quite clearly started and finished in midfield.

Adam Johnson found himself tucked away in Gael Clichy’s pocket and could not get out for a moment of air. Kolo Toure did an excellent job on Robin Van Persie who was struggling to make the same impact as he did at White Hart Lane. Toure being a lot quicker than Robin was on very touch and hardly let our talented forward breathe.

We looked a little blunt in attack and have done for the last few games. Porto at home was the last time that we really looked devastating going forward. Cesc and Arshavin have been missed but at the same we should have more than enough to compensate for those two. Manchester City’s lack of ambition also had a big part to play in that which is a little sad for a team that have invested so much money into a squad. It was a good time to take on an Arsenal side who had been wobbling yet attacking was last on the priority list.

Samir Nasri is a wonderful talent, a great dribbler and a star in the making but he is playing too safe for me right now. His goal against Porto springs to mind. Taking on a defence almost single handedly then firing into the bottom corner. He should be attempting to do that more often. Instead he beats his man cuts back inside and plays it back to the full back. This is the same with many of our players. I want to see our offensive players being aggressive on the ball and getting themselves into the penalty area. Theo Walcott is another who hits it past his man and swings a cross into the first defender, why not run around his man and get into the penalty area where options open up and chances for penalties increase.

When you look at the likes of Messi and Ronaldo you see what a difference they can make. They can change the game single handedly. The closest player we have to that is Emmanuel Eboue and as much as he has improved and is an important part of our squad he is unlikely to make the same impact as the worlds best. Obviously these players do not grow on trees but bringing in an individualistic team player could be a possibility.

Mikel Silvestre had arguably his best game in an Arsenal shirt. dealt with Manchester City’s attacking players very ably. Sol Campbell alongside him also continued his recent good form.

Adebayor came on and received the reception that he was always going to get. He actually played well for them and gave them a cutting edge but it wasn’t enough for them to breach the improved Arsenal defence. Diaby had a pot shot which ending Given’s afternoon and Van Persie curled a free kick just wide.

The result, a scoreless draw and a game that wasn’t very high on the entertainment but we kept a clean sheet and can start building again. Third spot is more of less sealed now so Arsene can start planning for next season.

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