Cazorla stands tallest at Etihad in battle of little men

The sound of Mike Dean’s whistle at the Etihad Stadium was the cue for Arsenal players to celebrate their most significant result of the league campaign so far.

The sight of Santi Cazorla hitching a ride on the back of big Per Mertesacker in front of the jubilant away fans  was a fitting image to sum up the midfielder’s contribution over the preceding 95 minutes.

The Spaniard was head and shoulders above the rest as Arsene Wenger’s side remain a point outside the top four in the Barclays Premier League while inflicting a serious blow to the title ambitions of Manchester City.

Often accused of stubbornness and tactical inflexibility, Wenger showed that he can revert to Plan B as his side executed a perfect away performance.

The Gunners stifled City and subdued the home fans, who saw their side briefly threaten to emerge from the lethargy that enveloped the Etihad when they forced David Ospina into two smart stops from Sergio Aguero and Jesus Navas while the City winger also saw a fizzing low cross turned behind by the toenail of Laurent Koscielny in a 15 minute spell after half-time.

But that was as good as it got for the defending champions, who despite having 65 per cent of possession, were a shadow of the side that rampaged and rolled-over Arsenal in a 6-3 demolition in last season’s corresponding fixture.

While City’s intensity and penetration was unquestionably dimmed, not helped by the absence of the marauding power of Yaya Toure, the scars of that thrashing were not sufficient enough to inhibit the Arsenal players.

Instead, Wenger and his coaching staff learned from the harsh lessons of their last visit to the blue half of Manchester - as well as trips to Stamford Bridge and Anfield last year conceding 6 and 5 respectively - by setting out to frustrate and contain while utilising the counter-attacking prowess of Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

That approach did not lend itself to the anticipated feast of free-flowing football but the contest was in no way diminished for it.

On the contrary, it was fascinating to see the transformation of a side built to attack, into one which was compact and resolute and was happy to cede possession to their opponents.

The deployment of the busy Francis Coquelin in front of the much maligned Arsenal back-four provided an extra layer of resistance that has been crushingly missing in many of the North London club’s visits to top-four rivals in recent seasons while the athleticism of Aaron Ramsey saw the Welshman popping up all over the pitch to intercept and disrupt.

As has been the case all season, the turbo-charged Sanchez never stopped running but the Chilean was unable to add to his 18 goals this season despite a stinging right-footed drive that elicited a smart stop from Joe Hart in the second half.

Santi Cazorla was the star man for Arsenal

By then, Arsenal were two goals to the good thanks to Cazorla.

The Spanish international expertly despatched a 24^th minute penalty after a lazy challenge from City captain Vincent Kompany upended Nacho Monreal.

Either side of that opening strike, Cazorla epitomised everything that was good about the visitors’ performance as he hassled and harried the City players while also orchestrating the sporadic Arsenal attacks with delightful simplicity and efficiency from a central position.

On 65 minutes, Cazorla pinpointed the well-groomed head of Olivier Giroud who sealed the deal with a straight forward finish passed the similarly quaffed Hart.

The 30-year-old then slalomed his way through four City challenges after sliding in to win back possession on the edge of his own area.

After making it over the halfway line he was eventually curtailed but his efforts were chorused by the travelling support who were belting out his name.

Coming into the game, the main talking point was who would win the battle between the South American dynamos of Aguero and Sanchez while the silky skills of Spain’s five-foot-nothing star David Silva were also expected to slice open the Arsenal backline.

Silva and Aguero cut frustrated figures at the end, with the latter only making his first start for the home side in six weeks and while Sanchez bubbled and bristled it was the diminutive Cazorla who left the biggest imprint on the Etihad turf.