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Pablo Zabaleta and Yaya Touré strike as Manchester City sink Arsenal
• Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City
Manchester City's Yaya Touré gets to his feet after stabbing home City's second goal past Arsenal's Lukasz Fabianski in Beijing. Photograph: Barry Huang/Reuters
Roberto Mancini may be concerned about the state of his Manchester City squad but on the evidence of the high-profile friendly against Arsenal in Beijing, Arsène Wenger has more to worry about.
Two goals in three minutes from Pablo Zabaleta and Yaya Touré at the end of the first half allowed a City squad still lacking their Euro 2012 contingent to claim victory in a game that ended in monsoon conditions, with large pools of water appearing across the pitch.
In contrast, Wenger had most of his senior players available, although Robin van Persie was absent, having been left at home amid massive speculation about his future. Van Persie has refused to sign a contract extension with the Gunners as he harbours serious reservations about their ability to compete with City and the Premier League's big guns.
And the calm manner Mancini's men swept their opponents aside in the Bird's Nest stadium, which four years ago was playing host to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, underlined Van Persie's point.
Wenger will play down the significance of the outcome. It is true Arsenal are not as far advanced in their preparations for the new campaign as City and that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's introduction triggered a much-improved second-half showing.
However, there did appear to be a gulf in class at times as the rain swept into the Chinese capital, and no obvious sign that a 19-point gap between the teams last season is likely to be closed to any great extent.
With Touré taking command and the 20-year-old Israeli Nir Biton impressing, Arsenal were restricted to a couple of decent Theo Walcott efforts before the interval.
City had to wait until the 41st minute to get their opener. Zabaleta strode up on the overlap and drove home Touré's inviting pass. Touré scored his side's second on their next attack as Sergio Agüero turned Aleksandar Kolarov's cross into the path of the Ivorian, who stabbed home from close range.
Wenger introduced Oxlade-Chamberlain at the break and he immediately made an impact, hitting both posts with a fizzing shot that bounced away to safety after Gervinho had gone close.
With both sides making changes, the contest began to lose its fluency. Content to play on the counterattack, City should have grabbed a third when Carlos Tevez squared to Agüero. The South American chipped over Lukasz Fabianski but the ball dropped wide. Oxlade-Chamberlain flashed another shot narrowly wide near the end.
• Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City
- Press Association
- guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 July 2012 10.18 EDT
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Manchester City's Yaya Touré gets to his feet after stabbing home City's second goal past Arsenal's Lukasz Fabianski in Beijing. Photograph: Barry Huang/ReutersRoberto Mancini may be concerned about the state of his Manchester City squad but on the evidence of the high-profile friendly against Arsenal in Beijing, Arsène Wenger has more to worry about.
Two goals in three minutes from Pablo Zabaleta and Yaya Touré at the end of the first half allowed a City squad still lacking their Euro 2012 contingent to claim victory in a game that ended in monsoon conditions, with large pools of water appearing across the pitch.
In contrast, Wenger had most of his senior players available, although Robin van Persie was absent, having been left at home amid massive speculation about his future. Van Persie has refused to sign a contract extension with the Gunners as he harbours serious reservations about their ability to compete with City and the Premier League's big guns.
And the calm manner Mancini's men swept their opponents aside in the Bird's Nest stadium, which four years ago was playing host to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, underlined Van Persie's point.
Wenger will play down the significance of the outcome. It is true Arsenal are not as far advanced in their preparations for the new campaign as City and that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's introduction triggered a much-improved second-half showing.
However, there did appear to be a gulf in class at times as the rain swept into the Chinese capital, and no obvious sign that a 19-point gap between the teams last season is likely to be closed to any great extent.
With Touré taking command and the 20-year-old Israeli Nir Biton impressing, Arsenal were restricted to a couple of decent Theo Walcott efforts before the interval.
City had to wait until the 41st minute to get their opener. Zabaleta strode up on the overlap and drove home Touré's inviting pass. Touré scored his side's second on their next attack as Sergio Agüero turned Aleksandar Kolarov's cross into the path of the Ivorian, who stabbed home from close range.
Wenger introduced Oxlade-Chamberlain at the break and he immediately made an impact, hitting both posts with a fizzing shot that bounced away to safety after Gervinho had gone close.
With both sides making changes, the contest began to lose its fluency. Content to play on the counterattack, City should have grabbed a third when Carlos Tevez squared to Agüero. The South American chipped over Lukasz Fabianski but the ball dropped wide. Oxlade-Chamberlain flashed another shot narrowly wide near the end.
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