A defensive set-up but a decent first half showing was undone by Samir Nasri's cheating and a feeble free kick awarded by Steve Bannett. City's flame of hope flickered once more when Craig Fagan won a cheap penalty, but Geovanni's spot kick was woeful and by the end City were a distant second, making it consecutive 0-3 defeats away from home.

Report by James Lockwood.

City commenced their Christmas campaign with a visit to the venue that left us with many talking points last season. From the excellent league victory which arguably was the highlight of the season (in fact many City fans consider it to be the highlight of their City supporting time) to a FA cup quarter final tie which due to poor officiating saw the home side gifted a controversial winner before more off the field controversy impact the relationships of the two clubs.

Speaking of poor officials, the days match was refereed by Steve Bennett, the referee whom against Aston Villa disallowed a Barmby goal after a Villa defender fouled their goalkeeper, before at the death awarding City a disputable penalty, having his officials line up for said spot kick, only them to change his mind for some reason.

The Emirates stadium looks, on the face of things, to be a fine stadium to present the game of football on the field. However the stadium itself feels utterly soulless, with little opportunity to hold any form of atmosphere in the ground. A few rather preposterous attempts to generate something resembling an atmosphere, from the scoreboard running a karaoke session to try to get the home crowd to join in with a rendition of Elvis Presley's "Wonder of You", to the utterly pompous method of announcing the home team by only using the players first names failed to create much for a cold home crowd.

Against this, City carded what looked to be a poor line up of

Myhill
McShane Zayette Gardner Dawson
Garcia Barmby Geovanni Boateng Hunt
Fagan

No disrespect intended to the players fielded, but against an Arsenal side who are notoriously weak when faced by a more physical presence, combined with 2 relatively short centre backs against whom a taller forward line including the likes of Altidore and Vennegoor of Hesselink may have paid greater dividends.

As it turned out, the players stuck to a rather effective defensive tactic throughout the first half where the home side were allowed more freedom down the wings to get crosses in from wide positions, knowing the centre back pairing of Zayette and Gardner were much more dominant than the Arsenal forwards. The two were also back up by Myhill's claiming of most crosses hit in his general area. Should Arsenal have tried to work their was through the centre of the park, a hard working central core of the City side were very quick to close the home team down to reduce the threat.

The early exchanges saw City create the better opportunities, but highlight the attacking weaknesses in the side. Firstly McShane and Fagan combine up the right, but the cross found no attacking player making up the space Fagan had left. Next Boateng plays in Fagan on the edge of the area, only to see his shot from the edge of the area tipped over by the home side's captain Almunia. Then after Silvestre (sorry, I mean MIKAEL) brings down Garcia, Hunts free kick is claimed by the home keeper.

Arsenal slowly get their feet in the game with Nasri and Eduardo combining up the left before Silvestre's cross is collected at the back post by Myhill. Nasri and Arshavin pass along the edge of the area to try and avoid the stubborn City defence before Diaby's shot is deflected wide. The resulting corner is headed behind by Gardner before Barmby clears the next corner.

Many times Arsenal have been accused of theatrics and this game was no difference. The first incident saw Hunt played in with the Irish winger and Almunia collide only for the home keeper to take a step away before throwing himself to the ground.

Arsenal's best chance of the first quarter of the game sees them build play up the right before Eduardo finds space on the right hand angle of the box before curling the ball narrowly wide of Myhill's far upright

City's immediate response saw a lovely run by the hard working Garcia up the right wing before crossing into the area, but yet again the central area was devoid of attacking players

Up the other end, Song releases Eboue on the wing, before his cross is headed out for a corner by Gardner. Eduardo's corner is cleared to the edge of the area where Denilson hit a poor shot which is heading very wide, before Silvestre's back heal only manages to deflect it's flight by a small margin

Further niggles from City's left winger on the home keeper comes after Barmby's deep cross towards Hunt is easily claimed by Almunia but Hunt does follow through on him.

Bennett's first moment of controversy of the night came after Arshavin got up the left wing before crossing in to allow Song to head before being deflected for a corner. Eduardo's corner is played in but Boateng is clattered by a Gooner with Bennett playing on. Fortunately the ball is played out for a corner, which in turn Myhill punches clear.

The big talking point, and perhaps turning point of the game sees Arshavin win a free kick, about 15 yards out on the left hand angle of the box. Following the award a melee between both sets of players sees Garcia flattened before Barmby is seen to strike another Gooner. Whilst it was impossible for the match reporter to identify exactly what happened, Bennett and his two assistants seemed to have even less of an idea with Nasri and Hunt given token bookings. The resulting Nasri free kick is hit straight into the wall before being cleared.

However the melee seemed to see City loose their discipline. After Song climbs over Fagan to give City a free kick, Zayette rampages forward before losing the run of the ball and gives away a soft free kick in trying to regain possession from Vermaelen. This also allowed Bennett to exercise his yellow card for our Guinean.

At the other end Diaby attempts to break through the City defence, only to be pulled down by Gardner. The free kick is 20 yards out which Denilson strikes a curling shot past Myhill's dive and into the back of the net

Half time terrace rumours suggested that an incident in the tunnel had seen Barmby punch Nasri with the Hull born midfielder being sent off. These fears appeared to be confirmed as the team reappeared after half time with only 10 on the pitch, minus Nick. It turned out he had in fact been substituted with Olofinjana taking his place in the side.

Without Barmby, City seemed to battle less hard in getting possession in the second half, allowing Arsenal more space. Whether it was Barmby's removal, or just the pattern of play following the half time lead Arsenal had taken, it was difficult to tell. Arsenal's first chance of the half saw the get up the left wing before crossing into Eduardo, only for his shot to go well wide.

I mentioned earlier about the less appealing side of Arsenal's play. Throughout the second half, the chief perpetrator in going down very easily was Denilson. His first one saw him roll around holding his shin as if badly injured, only to jump up once he'd realised the referee had not fallen for his antics.

City are presented with a great chance to get back on level term, with what would be a farcical penalty from a home side point of view. Geovanni makes space up the left, with Hunt crossing far too deeply. With Fagan desperately trying to get across to the ball, Silvestre pulls him down to see us win a penalty. Geovanni looks utterly un-confident as he strikes to ball to Almunia's right, allowing him to save the poorly hit ball. Hunt follows up to head the ball, but only manages to head it across the goal and out for a goal kick.

Geovanni then quickly tried to make amends by bursting through the home defence before being shoved over by Song, with Bennett again waving play on.

At the other end, Arsenal get up the left wing before a low cross into the area finds Diaby, who in turn passes to Eduardo to tap in from about 2 yards to double Arsenal's lead.

Hunt's run up the left wing is abruptly stopped by Eboue as the full back makes no attempt to play the ball, instead taking City's wingers legs from him. With City winning the free kick, Bennett elects to not caution Eboue. Before play is restarted Cousin replaces Garcia.

After Arsenal try to build their next attack, Arshavin and McShane collide with the Russian seen to roll on the floor. The unimpressed Bennett waves play on with Fagan breaking clear, but his shot from 30 yards goes well wide of the goal

A substitute each way sees Nasri replaced by Welsh youngster Ramsey, whereas for City Mendy replaces Geovanni, with City lining up in a 4-4-2 formation for the remainder of the game

After a free kick is given following another soft challenge on Arshavin, the ball is played right to Eduardo, who gets into the City area, before his shot is fubled out for a corner by Myhill. Fortunately Myhill easily claims the resulting corner.

Arsenal see a great chance to extend their lead go begging as Ramsey passes to Eduardo, breaking clean through in the right hand channel, only to scuff his shot wide. He is soon to be replaced by English winger Walcott.

With 11 minutes appearing on the scoreboard (for some reason it counted down the remaining minutes of the half, rather than count up how many minutes had passed), the home fans finally remembered the accusations Phil Brown had thrown at Arsenal following last seasons FA cup tie, with the lower tier rising for a very short rendition of "Stand up if you hate Phil Brown". In that time, Mendy advances up the right wing before crossing into the area. Cousin appeared to have no interest in the incoming ball, which was cleared out to Dawson before his driven shot was blocked by the home defence.

Arsenal get their third goal with Diaby beating City's off side trap to hammer the ball home.

Cousin finally gets into the game after Fagan advances up the right wing before crossing into Cousin, seeing his powerful header hit straight at the home goalkeeper.

After Vela replaces Arshavin for the home side, a high ball sees Vermaelen shove Cousin, winning City a free kick in the centre circle. The resulting free kick is hit into the area but multiple shots are blocked before being eventually cleared.

A great run by Cousin up the left wing sees him cross low into Hunt, seeing his shot on the turn tipped away by Almunia, the long clearance finds Walcott break free only for his shot to go narrowly wide.

As the game drew to a close, Vela and Silvestre combine on the left before crossing into Denilson to shoot over the bar. Whilst at the other end Hunt presents a cross onto Cousins head, only to see him head over

The final action of the game saw Olofinjana's name taken after a collision between himself and Eboue saw the home team player go down very easily yet again.

With the full time whistle blown, Phil Brown was seen to shake hands with Wenger, but oddly the injured home team captain didn't enter the field of play to congratulate his fellow players.

In hindsight the match turned upon the melee and the subsequent indiscipline, but a poor penalty didn't help matters much either.

HULL CITY (4-5-1): Myhill; McShane, Zayatte, Gardner, Dawson; Garcia, Barmby, Geovanni, Boateng, Hunt; Fagan.  Subs: Olofinjana (for Barmby, 45), Cousin (for Garcia, 61), Mendy (for Geovanni, 69), Vennegoor of Hesselink, Kilbane, Ghilas, Duke.

Goals: None

Booked: Barmby, Boateng, Hunt, Olofinjana, Zayatte

Sent Off: None

ARSENAL: Almunia, Vermaelen, Silvestre, Gallas, Arshavin, Eboue, Song, Denilson, Nasri, Diaby, Eduardo.  Subs: Ramsey (for Nasri, 69), Walcott (for Eduardo, 75), Vela (for Arshavin, 83), Fabianski, Sagna, Wilshere, Emmanuel-Thomas. 

Goals: Denilson 45; Eduardo 59; Diaby 80

Booked: Nasri

Sent Off: None

REFEREE:    S Bennett

ATTENDANCE: 60,006