Yes Arsenal over elaborated at times, but nonetheless still had plenty of shots, some of them on target. The problem was that the shots lacked accuracy and ruthlessness. Henry hit several wide free kicks, and his finishing lacked conviction. He says he will not be sharp until October so we will just have to manage until then. Meanwhile van Persie seemed sharper but was unlucky to hit the woodwork, or defenders,  on several occasions.

 Arsenal had started slowly but on 20 minutes they could have been 2-1 ahead, and after that they should have been even further ahead with no reply. As the half progressed City were under the hammer and it was hard to believe that Arsenal hadn't scored. On 39 minutes van Persie hit the post and the iron law asserted itself. Barton had fouled Fabregas but Rennie chose to ignore that, City lifted the ball into the Arsenal penalty area, Hoyte chased the ball and seemed to be unaware of Sinclair clatterin into him. Barton made no mistake with the penalty. Arsenal resumed attacking and on 45 minutes Toure hit the bar, and Gilberto blasted the ball over the goal.

 The second half was very much like the first with Arsenal doing most of the attacking, and City counterattacking as the Gunners overextended themselves. The blues were hardly looking for another goal, but mainly a way of stopping the Arsenal. Even bringing on Walcott failed to break through the melee. Walcott tried some decent outside of the box shots,  but the area was so crowded there was no way through. No doubt for the neutral this was an excellent game and Arsenal played some beautiful football, in particular Fabregas was  tireless in the engine room for the midfield.

No doubt there will be squeals of horror from some, and no doubt Fleet Street will be working on a crisis, but this was not a dreadful performance by a mostly young team that paid dearly for a lack of experience in defence, and a rustiness in attack. They never gave up and were almost frenzied in thier attempt to get the game back.

 Clearly this is another year of transition, as Wenger had probably not planned on losing Cole, and Reyes, but it is still early days. But there is a grim fascination in all this as, as Wenger refuses to strengthen the team, how much younger can it get without undermining CL qualification. Wenger believes the squad can do it. Once he has taught them how to score he might be right.

 Player ratings

Lehmann seven, some good shot stopping, but some nonsense we could have done without.

Eboue, six, some good defending although sometimes out of position, ball in last third needs improvement.

Toure, eight, usual sound game.

Djourou, seven, was hassled and harassed but mainly kept his cool and prevailed.

Hoyte, five, lacks confidence under pressure and penetration on attack, finds it difficult being out of position, his error was costly.

Hleb, six, had some good moments but never really provided the killer ball.

Fabregas, eight, refused to be intimidated, kept the attack flowing all the time, a pity that others were not as sharp.

Gilberto, seven, for most of the time shielded the defence well, one or two errors, got into opponents penalty area.

Rosicky, five, made little impact, found it hard to keep up with the pace and intensity.

Van Persie seven, unlucky not to score, fitted in well with the rest of the team, would have liked to have seen him get a bigger share of the free kicks.

Henry, six, got into dangerous positions, teased defenders, but lacked sharpness on shooting. On another day he would have had a hat-trick.

Walcott, six, it was never going to be three miracles in a row, especially with City's mass ranks in the penalty area, did make one or two interesting runs, and shots from outside the area.

Adebayor, came on too late to judge effectively, but never looked like scoring.

Flamini was on for just a few minutes, I assume Eboue was rested or had slight injury.