Fernandinho played ‘perfect game’
LONDON: Manchester City exposed the first cracks in Arsenal’s title challenge, beating the Premier League leaders 6-3 at the Etihad Stadium as their attacking talents cut loose in another free-scoring home display on Saturday.
City, whose early opener from Sergio Aguero was cancelled out by Theo Walcott, opened up a two-goal lead with Alvaro Negredo and Fernandinho efforts either side of halftime.
Arsenal briefly rallied with a superb second from Walcott, but David Silva restored the two-goal lead from close range and Fernandinho poked home his second to maintain City’s 100 percent home league record.
Even Per Mertesacker’s late consolation for Arsenal was trumped by City as Yaya Toure stroked in a stoppage time penalty.
Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table was reduced to three points as City jumped to second, three points behind.
Chelsea beat Crystal Palace at home 2-1, leaving them in second, two points behind Arsenal.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini said two-goal hero Fernandinho had “a perfect game”.
City continued their high-scoring ways at the Etihad, taking their goal tally to a remarkable 35 goals in eight matches at home.
While Aguero, who limped out of the match early in the second half with a calf injury, and Negredo have gained many of the plaudits this season, Fernandinho, signed from Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in June for a reported 30 million pounds (Rs 304 crore) fee, has been one of City’s quiet achievers, starting 13 matches for the 2011-12 champions.
The Brazilian capped another strong performance with his first league goals for City. He followed up a curling effort early in the second half with a deft chip over Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after a fast break involving Samir Nasri.
“Fernandinho played a perfect game in all senses, not just his two goals but he recovered a lot of balls and had a lot of pace,” Pellegrini told reporters.
“I am very happy for him but you will see how good he is over the season – he will get better every week.
“Yaya (Toure), Samir and David (Silva) all played very well today, too. The four in the midfield are very difficult to play against – the strikers can score a lot of goals with them behind them.
“He (Fernandinho) is a typical Brazilian midfielder, he plays very well with the ball, he has a lot of pace – he gets forward well. He’s doing very good work with Yaya Toure and I’m very happy for him.”
Capped five times by Brazil, but only an outside chance of making the side for the 2014 World Cup, Pellegrini said the midfielder was showing why he was worth splashing such a high transfer fee on.
“Important players aren’t cheap.”
In other matches on the day, Cardiff beat West Brom 1-0, while Everton moved to fourth place with a 4-1 home win over second-from-bottom Fulham.
Newcastle were held 1-1 by Southampton after taking the lead.
The West Ham-Sunderland match ended in a goalless draw.
Hull and Stoke also played out a 0-0 draw in the late match. (Reuters)