Santi Cazorla looked dead on his feet. The first Arsenal substitution had been made and more than a few were surprised it had not been his number called.
Not that he was playing badly. He had been quite, quite brilliant, but had run himself into the ground keeping the champions quiet. All of Arsenal’s midfield were relentless in their commitment to this cause.
Still, there was a free-kick to be taken and Cazorla is Arsenal’s free-kick taker. He chipped a curling ball into the Manchester City area, where Olivier Giroud outran, outthought and outmuscled Fernando to apply a delightfully weighted glancing header. Joe Hart was nowhere. Two goals clear, the game was won.
The best Arsenal performance of recent years? Quite possibly. Certainly it is hard to recall a more effective one. Cazorla was magnificent, the man of the match. Close behind him was Francis Coquelin, a wonderfully effective destroyer in central midfield. Laurent Koscielny was outstanding in the heart of defence, but a back four that included Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin barely wavered.
Before the game all the talk was of Alexis Sanchez, the one that got away, considering he shares his Chilean nationality with City manager Manuel Pellegrini.
Yet it was Arsenal’s humble foot soldiers who were the heroes here. Sergio Aguero was smothered, so too David Silva. The supply line was cut and City looked insipid. There was no-one with the drive of Yaya Toure, reduced to tweeting good luck messages from Equatorial Guinea, and even Frank Lampard had no impact from the bench.
While the second-half performance was an improvement on the first, by the end City were reduced to pumping high balls to Edin Dzeko. By then, Arsenal were too practised at containment to be worried. They cantered towards the conclusion, deserved winners. Manchester United anmd fourth place are very much in their sights.
This was a huge result, not just for Arsenal, but for English football. Chelsea have not just gained an extra three points, but seven goals at the top of the table. Add their 5-0 win at Swansea City to Manchester City’s 2-0 defeat and this is the biggest weekend of the season so far.
Chelsea face City at home on January 31, their next league game. Win that and they can begin planning the parade. If City do not bounce back speedily from this, or find a way to cover Toure’s stint with Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations, the title race could be over sooner than many imagined.
That Jose Mourinho has been aided by Arsenal’s ‘specialist in failure’ Arsene Wenger is an irony that should not be lost on him. This was a Wenger team few expect to see, an Arsenal with guts and resilience. So many of the qualities it has been felt Arsenal lack were present in this game.
This was an Arsenal that stuck at it, that grafted, that played City on the counter-attack, that soaked it up, that were tenacious, determined, superb without the ball. And yet they had the best chances, too. Arsenal in possession were quick and had purpose. City were ponderous, hesitant.
A first-timer, told that one of these teams was chasing the league leaders would have instantly plumped for the band in yellow. They may not have seen as much of the ball but, when they did get it, they knew what to do.
