Ruthless Arsenal punish depleted City
Sunday, October 24, 2010
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Arsenal FC climbed to second in the Premier League with a 3-0 victory at ten-man Manchester City FC whose city rivals Manchester United FC are third following a late win at Stoke City FC.
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Arsenal FC sent out an impressive signal of intent on Sunday, defeating Manchester City FC 3-0 to go second in the Premier League.
The Gunners, buoyed by their eye-catching 5-1 triumph over FC Shakhtar Donetsk on UEFA Champions League Matchday 3, received an early fillip at the City of Manchester stadium. Dedryck Boyata's dismissal after just five minutes ensured Arsène Wenger's side swiftly assumed the ascendancy and they duly took the lead 15 minutes later through Samir Nasri's third goal in as many games. Joe Hart saved splendidly to deny Cesc Fàbregas from the penalty spot five minutes before half-time, but the visitors did add to their tally in the second half through Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner.
Manchester United FC left it far later to seal a victory of their own, Javier Hernández bundling in with four minutes left to secure a 2-1 win at Stoke City FC. The Mexico striker had early put United in front with a brilliantly improvised header before Tuncay Şanlı struck an 81st-minute equaliser. Embattled Liverpool FC were the day's other victors but remain in the bottom three despite beating Blackburn Rovers FC 2-1 at Anfield, Fernando Torres scoring the decisive goal eight minutes into the second half.