Callow Arsenal crushed as Man City finally click

Manchester City 3 Arsenal 0. Arsene Wenger might not be quite ready yet to press the panic button, after his callow Arsenal side were put to the sword by a full-strength Manchester City at the Eastlands stadium last night, having sacrificed enough first-teamers to render the fixture meaningless.

However, if the Londoners are to avoid spiralling into the usual winter weakness and prolonging a three-game losing streak in domestic competition during which they have failed to score, they will need to pull themselves together quickly.

Wenger's opposite number Mark Hughes, who felt the Frenchman should have been a "little more gracious" after this tie and shaken his hand, also entered the game with muted disapproval at his team rumbling away in the background.

His side are unbeaten in more than two months, however a run of seven straight draws in the Premier League have seen them lose touch with the top four and question the hunger of Hughes' expensively assembled stars.

Thankfully, the match started without the rancour that had marred the previous visit of Arsenal (when Emmanuel Adebayor had sparked a mini-riot by celebrating a goal directly in front of the visiting fans).

Unfortunately there was little quality in the first half from either team, a tame header from Adebayor and a scooped Carlos Vela effort the best on display. The hosts were more fluid and attacked with more intent, but the makeshift Arsenal defence snuffed out most threats and the slippery surface made skillful play difficult.

Five minutes after the break and Carlos Tevez, a pugnacious presence throughout, finally made City's pressure pay, jinking through the Gunners' defence to shoot high past Lukasz Fabianski.

Arsenal pushed for an immediate equaliser, and Welsh wunderkid Aaron Ramsey almost obliged but his header from Fran Merida's cross went high. Minutes after the introduction of Sanchez Watt for the visitors, City doubled their lead. Shaun Wright-Phillips bustled past Mikael Silvestre and buried a stunning strike past Fabianski.

City continued to hustle and with a minute of normal time to play Craig Bellamy centred for substitute Vladimir Weiss to finish off the tie in style. Hughes will now face Manchester United in the semi final, the club's first in any competition for 28 years.

"Everyone in Manchester will be excited by it and the wider world, too. We showed that we are a match for anyone," the Welshman said. Wenger will be hoping that a home game against Stoke on Saturday will fire his team up again. ·