Paul Wilson at The City of Manchester Stadium
Sunday February 3, 2008
The Observer

A sense of deflation is settling over Manchester City's season, and not just because the home stewards now carry pins with which to prick stray balloons. To the FA Cup exit last week and the non-arrival of Benjani can now be added the first home League defeat of the season. Sven-Göran Eriksson must have been expecting to run out of home luck sometime; his team have won just two of their past 12 games.

Arsenal were well worth all three points, even though they were not at their clinical best against a side seemingly determined to give the ball away at every opportunity. Emmanuel Adebayor continued his marvellous scoring run with two more goals – he has now hit eight in his past six games to help Arsenal to six league victories in a row. Statistics do not tell the whole story. Adebayor simply terrorised the City defence, winning almost everything in the air and ranging from touchline to touchline to present Arsenal a permanent outlet in a thoroughly impressive demonstration of how to lead the line.

'I'm glad every week that Togo failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations,' said Arsène Wenger. 'He made a big impact today on two very good centre- backs. He's a real centre-forward but he also plays for the team and we've seen a big improvement in his movement, composure and consistency. We haven't forgotten Thierry Henry at this club, but it is a massive compliment to Adebayor that no one says we are missing him.'

Wenger was spot-on about Adebayor unsettling City's centre-backs. Richard Dunne and Micah Richards can usually deal with crosses all day, but here they were being outclimbed on a regular basis. Fabio Capello's presence at the game must have been mostly to assess Richards as a centre-half, yet for once the City defender was dwarfed by an even more athletic and commanding aerial presence.

For all that Adebayor's opening goal was a relatively simple tap-in, Bacary Sagna having done most of the work by beating Michael Ball to the by-line and cutting back a low ball across the face of goal. Typically, Martin Petrov had set the attack in motion by losing possession in his own half and Ball was slow to react when Alexander Hleb quickly picked out Sagna. Adebayor was perfectly positioned, and though Richards' desperate lunge produced a deflection that looped over Joe Hart, the shot would almost certainly have gone in anyway.

Arsenal bettered that midway through the first half when Gaël Clichy's cross from the left sailed over Richards and Dunne but was met by Adebayor at the back post, for a knockdown that Eduardo converted in stunning fashion with his back to goal. There was a suggestion that the Croat might have been slightly offside, though there were only inches in it and after controlling the ball on his chest and executing a brilliant shot on the swivel it would have taken a brave, fussy and extremely sharp-sighted official to chalk it off.

Things were going so swimmingly for Arsenal at this point they made the mistake of easing up a little too early and allowing City back into the game. Elano's ball to send Vedran Corluka down the right was clever, though Clichy had covered the danger when he surrendered possession to allow the full-back to wriggle past him and set up a simple opportunity for Gelson Fernades. 'We lost a fraction of concentration,' Wenger admitted. 'We were always in control of the game but at 2-1 you never know. We are never comfortable just defending and we couldn't relax until the third goal at the end.'

That view slightly flatters City, who did not give Jens Lehmann, in for the injured Manuel Almunia, much to do in the second half. There were a couple of half…#8209;chances for Darius Vassell that required Lehmann to come off his line to clear, but nothing resembling a save. Petrov was wrongly recalled for offside when clear, and was booked for his protests, though the way the winger was playing he would only have passed to an opponent anyway.

The surprise was that it took Arsenal so long to score on the break. They must have had half-a-dozen decent opportunities before Adebayor finally finished a break-out from defence he had launched. He was tripped on the halfway line by Elano, for which the Brazilian received a retrospective booking, yet still climbed to his feet and followed the attack so as to be on hand when the ball came back from Cesc Fàbregas and Hleb. City watching while Arsenal worked seemed an apt summary of the game.

'We were too soft,' Eriksson admitted. 'We only showed fight after they scored two goals, and we will have to do better if we want to play in Europe.' Eriksson also confirmed he is still hopeful of completing the Benjani transfer, and said that contrary to reports the player wanted to come. 'There has been a lot said and written about this deal,' Eriksson said. 'Not all of it is fact.'