Premier League: Second Half Report – Arsenal vs. Manchester City
After dominating the first half in a rather convincing fashion, Arsenal looked to do the same in the second half. The team took to the pitch once again and were back to playing the free-flowing football that has become associated
with the club.
However, despite the fact that the Gunners were dominating the game, they did not really seem to create a clear-cut chance in front of the Manchester City goal. In fact, the team had to wait all the way until the 61st minute,
to actually test http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Joe-Hart-c18699, for the first time in the second half.
After having wasted a number of chances early on in the second half, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robin-van-Persie-c31380 decided to try his luck from distance. The forward unleashed a ferocious drive in the 61st minute. Although the shot looked to have
beaten Hart at first, it went on to display just how good the keeper really is. Despite misjudging his dive, the keeper adjusted his arms mid-flight and managed to knock a goal bound shot, behind, for a corner kick.
Not only was the effort from Van Persie the best of the game, but the save that Hart went on to produce could easily now go down to be the best of the season as well.
After realizing that his team needed an extra dimension up front, Roberto Mancini opted to bring on http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Adam-Johnson-c3537 to replace Jo in the 65th minute.
Four minutes later, Arsene Wenger went on to make his first change as well, as he replaced http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrei-Arshavin-c5771.
However, neither one of the substitutions seemed to do the trick for either team. Throughout the game Arsenal were left to attack, while City seemed more than happy to defend. Nonetheless, after watching his team finding it hard
to break down a resilient City backline, Wenger opted to make another switch.
The manager went on to replace http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nicklas-Bendtner-c27726 to add more firepower up front for the Gunners.
Just when the match seemed to be over, a moment of madness occurred on the byline, in the 89th minute. Zabaleta went on to tackle http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bacary-Sagna-c7148 and the French sideback seemed to disapprove of the challenge. In fact, both
the players ended up squaring off against each other, with occasional headbutts being thrown at each other. As a result, the referee had no choice, but to show both the players a straight red and bring both the teams down to ten men.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mancini-c23323 saw this as an opportunity to kill the games pace even further and the manager went on to bring off Carlos Tevez, replacing him with Jerome Boateng.
After watching the substitution take place, Arsenal fans had no choice but to make their 'Boring City' chants be heard all across London.
However, despite being boring, City eventually managed to hold on to the rampant Arsenal and both teams ended the game with one point being awarded to both of them. The final score was clearly not a fair reflection of the evening’s
proceedings, but perhaps it would give Wenger something to think about and even help him make a signing or two in the winter transfer window.
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