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Manchester City vs Arsenal a few quick goals and thoughts

  • We are now set for an all London F.A. Cup Final after Arsenal booked their place yesterday with a win over Manchester City
  • Pep Guardiola now has to face with his first ever trophyless season in charge after Semi Final disappointment yesterday
  • He and everyone else connected with City will no doubt feel aggrieved by the incorrect decision to rule out a perfectly good goal just before the end of the first half
  • Once again an Assistant Referee has made a big mistake in a major Wembley showpiece
  • These big games should not be decided by errors of this nature
  • A harsh decision that went again City as the ball was wrongly ajduged to have gone out of play
  • Admittedly it was a tight call but at the end of the day if you cannot be one hundred percent sure then you should not be giving the decisions
  • In regards to the football though, City will also be frustrated at the fact that they should have had a first half penalty after Alex Oxlade Chamberlain’s clumsy tackle on Sergio Aguero
  • The England international who was once again deployed as a wing back will have to consider himself lucky that a penalty was not awarded in the first half
  • He was deployed in the same role yesterday as that of last Monday as Arsene Wenger once again opted for the back three in defence
  • And you have to say it worked, Arsenal perhaps rode their luck at times not just due to refereeing decisions but City also hitting woodwork
  • But you have to give credit to Arsenal that the longer the game went on the more they grew into the game
  • It was first blood to City though after a goalless first half
  • Arsenal were hit on the counter and it was a one on one race between Aguero and Arsenal’s Nacho Monreal
  • It looked as if at one point Monreal would avert the danger but the diminutive Argentine international Aguero found the extra gears to dink the ball over an oncoming Petr Cech
  • How would Arsenal react?
  • The answer was positively as City were pegged back within nine Second half minutes
  • Arsenal’s two wing backs combined as Oxlade-Chamberlain’s cross was volleyed home by Monreal who ghosted in at the back post
  • Parity had been restored and extra time loomed closer
  • Not before Yaya Toure saw a volley tipped onto the post and Fernandinho saw a header cannon onto the bar
  • At this point you got the feeling that it might not have been City’s day
  • Danny Welbeck nearly rendered extra time needless as his jinking run presented the opportunity to score
  • He curled the ball just high of the crossbar when perhaps it would have been wiser to lay the ball of to Alexis Sanchez
  • But it would be Sanchez who would put Arsenal ahead in extra time
  • City failed to clear a free kick and Sanchez eventually dug the ball out of his feet to fire pass compatriot Claudio Bravo
  • Arsenal ahead and they had just 20 or so minutes to see out
  • And they would do so with City running out of attacking options what with Aguero already having been substituted
  • City looked devoid of ideas as they started to wilt in the late April sun
  • Arsenal were resolute enough to hold out and they look forward to a rubber match with Chelsea after a league win apiece this season
  • It was certainly a game of attrition and City will now have injury concerns going into the all important Manchester Derby on Thursday with both Sergio Aguero and David Silva doubtful
  • Does that win boost Arsene Wenger’s chances of staying on
  • He was being coy in the press conference afterwards saying that he knows the day he will leave but is not telling anyone the date
  • Will an F.A. Cup Final be the last we see of Wenger and if so will his time at the Arsenal helm end up having a happy ending.

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