Tevez sets City on their way

Manchester City 3 Arsenal 0:MANCHESTER CITY relished a victory here that should see a renewed confidence spill over into the Premier League. In the closing moment substitute Vladimir Weiss was even able to add a third goal from Craig Bellamy's pass. The victors capered into the semi-finals and Arsenal must have been downcast by the losing margin.

Arsene Wenger’s team selections in this tournament are a form of cruelty. Rivals surely flinch when they see on the team sheet a collection of youngsters, with a smattering of more hardened characters to guide them, who may very well be talented enough to win the tie. There is little credit to be had in beating a line-up that has been diluted as matter of policy. This match was a useful way of relieving, or postponing, any pressure following that 3-0 loss to Chelsea.

No one could really pretend that even a bad outcome here was another element in a syndrome of anti-climax at Arsenal. The side chosen here had just two players, Armand Traore and Alex Song, who had started against Chelsea at the weekend. While Wenger does not treat the League Cup as a likely way of collecting a trophy, his opposite number has much less cause to be composed. Already there is unease about Mark Hughes because a line-up of costly signings has kept coming to a standstill, with those seven successive draws in the league.

Whatever else is said about City, no one could have depicted them as well-heeled footballers whose main ambition was to keep on collecting their wages. The home crowd certainly did not confine themselves to a token interest in this match. If the side lacked anything in the opening 45 minutes it was the precision needed to lay on a really inviting chance.

Shaun Wright-Phillips was the most incisive performer and, in the seventh minute, he earned the corner from which former Arsenal attacker Emmanuel Adebayor headed much too close to Lukasz Fabianski. With 19 minutes gone, Wright-Phillips forced his way clear of a dilatory Mikael Silvestre to set up Bellamy, but the finish was wide and hapless.Traore and Craig Eastmond had been cautioned for fouls on the winger before the interval.

Arsenal had some sprightly moments in attacks, but this was far from the usual League Cup tie in which they flaunt a dazzling precocity. The liveliness was all City’s. The glaring problem was the lack of presence in the goalmouth, even if Adebayor is an extremely tall man. According to Hughes, injury disrupted his season just when he was scoring freely. Whether he has merely to regain full form or was ill-at-ease against his old club, he was not having sufficient impact at that stage.

The occasion lacked little. The attendance and atmosphere showed supporters can be in earnest about the League Cup. Carlos Tevez put City ahead five minutes after the interval. Tomas Rosicky, under pressure from Bellamy and the Argentinian, surrendered possession on the Arsenal left and Tevez broke into the area, avoided Song and hit a drive across the goalkeeper and high into the net.

The appetite of an excited crowd was getting keener by the moment, even if referee Chris Foy refused to sate it and showed a yellow card to Silvestre instead of dismissing him for a foul on Adebayor. City had shown the keener appetite, but there were signs of hunger from Arsenal once they were behind. That, all the same, did not stem the excitement raging through City. Wright-Phillips had even greater impact as he doubled the lead after 69 minutes.

There was a swagger to the winger as he slipped past Traore to the edge of the area and fired a shot that flew across Fabianski and high into the top corner. With 16 minutes left, Hughes opted for conservatism by replacing Tevez and Wright-Phillips with Vincent Kompany and Weiss. For the first time in a while here it was a visiting Premier League manager who was in trouble.

MANCHESTER CITY: Given, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Barry, Ireland, Wright-Phillips (Weiss 77), Tevez (Kompany 74), Bellamy, Adebayor. Subs not used: Taylor, Onuoha, Johnson, Santa Cruz, Robinho. Booked: Bellamy.

ARSENAL: Fabianski, Eboue, Silvestre, Song, Traore, Rosicky, Eastmond (Watt 68), Ramsey, Vela, Merida, Wilshere. Subs not used: Mannone, Bartley, Coquelin, Frimpong, Gilbert, Randall. Booked: Traore, Eastmond, Silvestre, Wilshere, Song, Ramsey.

Referee: C Foy (Merseyside).