Santi Cazorla's penalty set Arsenal on the way to a 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium

Published: January 18, 2015
By STEVE BARNETT

Premier League
MANCHESTER CITY 0, ARSENAL 2

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger praised "superb" Santi Cazorla after watching the Spanish playmaker put in a super showing at Manchester City this afternoon (Sunday). 

The Gunners ended City's 12-match unbeaten league run and damaged their title hopes with a deserved 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium.

Cazorla broke the deadlock in the 24th minute when he converted a penalty after Vincent Kompany fouled Nacho Monreal.

The Spaniard also had a foot in Arsenal's second just after the hour mark as his free-kick picked out Olivier Giroud, who headed home from close range.

Wenger said he was delighted with his team's "exceptional" performance after the game, and was quick to single out Cazorla for the part he played in the heart of midfield.

"Cazorla has been superb for a while now, and maybe he was even more influential today because he played all the right balls," said Wenger.

"The whole team defended well, which gave him a lot of the ball. Overall our great discipline helped, because we got the ball, found Santi Cazorla and he got us out of pressure."

In a first half of limited chances there were few complaints surrounding the penalty that led to the opening goal.

Monreal played a one-two with Giroud and the Spain left-back went down after his run was blocked by Kompany, who looked rusty in his first match since mid-December having recovered from a hamstring injury.

Cazorla sent the spot-kick low to Joe Hart's left, and even though the City goalkeeper dived the right way he was unable to get a hand on it.

Cazorla's accuracy paid dividends again in the 66th minute when he floated a free-kick into the penalty area, where Giroud took full advantage of City's static defending to head past Hart.

"The most pleasing thing about our win was the great unity, solidarity and togetherness in the team," beamed Wenger.

"We also had a strong bench today, full of experience and top quality, which will also be important in the coming weeks."

ARSENAL: Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Rosicky, 66), Ramsey, (Flamini, 84), Cazorla, Sanchez (Gibbs, 84), Giroud.
Substitutes not used: Szczesny, Ozil, Walcott, Chambers.