Arsenal 1 - Man City 0. More injuries.

An 80th minute strike from Cesc Fabregas ensured Arsenal a home win over Manchester City. Earlier Robin Van Persie missed a penalty after Hleb was brought down in the box by Micah Richards.

The match was in many ways a reflection of our last season performances at the Emirates, only difference being a clean sheet for Arsenal. As usual Arsenal created many chances, but none of them were taken. But most of the credit should go to City defense, which stood up and fought hard against the attacks which came one after the another.

As expected Arsenal started with a 4-4-2. But there were surprises in the starting line up as Gilberto started at center back after Senderos suffered an injury just before the game. So it was Clichy, Toure, Gilberto and Sagna at the back and Hleb, Fabregas, Flamini and Rosicky in the midfield, while Van Persie and Adebayor played upfront. An injury (or not) to Lehmann meant Almunia started infront of goal. City played some line up which included Mpenza, Elano and Petrov while Giovanni started from bench.

Sagna was injured in the first half after an accidental clash with Flamini and he was brought off early in the match. He was replaced by Denilson who played in the center while Flamini shifted to right back. This latest injury and another one to Senderos during pre-match warm up means we have very less options for the coming games unless they recover fast.

The match saw plenty of chances created, most of them created by Arsenal, but City had a fair share of them as they tried to score on the break. The city goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichal looked very shaky in handling crosses, but Arsenal couldn't take advantage of it. The first half ended 0-0, but Arsenal should have taken the lead. The second half was similar to the first, but there was a period of domination by City and those moments were worrying indeed. Then came the penalty as Alex Hleb was brought down in the box by Richards. Van Persie stepped up, but struck a poor shot straight at the keeper as he went for power rather than placement. But with ten minutes to go, Cesc Fabregas scored from a difficult angle after some neat passing in the box. 1-0 to the Arsenal and there was no way we were going to lose from that position. The full match report is here.

Our front line had a pretty ordinary performance and that was largely down to some excellent marking by the City defenders Dunne and Richards. Rosicky had a very lively game and he didn't look like he was affected by the injury. Hleb looked good on the right and did well to win a penalty for us, before setting up the winner. Gilberto looked comfortable at the back and Almunia made some good saves and looked very assuring behind the defense.

It was a very important win and a well deserved one too as City showed lots of fighting spirit. One can take many negatives out of this performance, but to me the win was important and it's good to see us keeping a clean sheet. We can still improve on counter attacks and finishing, which will be needed for a good season.