Sergio Aguero fired Manchester City into the Carling Cup semi-finals with a late counter-attacking goal at the Emirates.
Substitute scores late goal to put City into last four at Emirates
Substitute Sergio Aguero fired Manchester City into the Carling Cup semi-finals with a late counter-attacking goal at the Emirates.
City keeper Costel Pantilimon had to pull off top saves from Arsenal pair Park Ju-young and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to keep the scores level at the break.
And the hosts were made to pay when City broke from an Arsenal corner, with Edin Dzeko feeding Adam Johnson who passed to Aguero to slot home with seven minutes remaining.
Both teams had made sweeping changes, but despite plenty of industry from Arsene Wenger's young side, it was big-spending City who had the edge.
The Premier League leaders will now turn their attentions to securing safe passage into the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League next month after the depth of Roberto Mancini's squad again paid dividends.
There was a tribute to late Wales manager Gary Speed, with the away fans spontaneously singing his name followed by applause.
Samir Nasri, on his first return since an acrimonious £24million summer transfer, was jeered throughout.
Resoundingly booed
The former Gunners midfielder's first touch was resoundingly booed, before chants of "you only left for the money" rang out around the Emirates Stadium.
City winger Johnson's 25-yard effort dipped just over before Arsenal broke down the left through Oxlade-Chamberlain, who fed Marouane Chamakh before the ball was pushed out for Francis Coquelin to whip it back across the six-yard box.
Park, who scored in the last round against Bolton, arrived on cue at the far post, only for reserve keeper Pantilimon to make a brilliant reaction save to his left.
The 6ft 8in City keeper was called into action again on 27 minutes when the Romanian - on a one-year loan from Poli Timisoara - made another acrobatic one-handed stop to push away Oxlade-Chamberlain's fierce 20-yard strike which was heading for the top corner. Laurent Koscielny was alert to knock the ball behind just as Nasri looked set for a tap-in.
Oxlade-Chamberlain continued to be Arsenal's main attacking threat down the right - so much that Mancini made an early change on 32 minutes when he replaced Aleksandar Kolarov with Aguero and switched formation. The Serbian captain looked less than impressed as he slumped into the visitors' dugout.
Arsenal were lively again at the start of the second half, as Oxlade-Chamberlain made more inroads down the right, this time an angled drive beaten away by the City keeper.
Mancini became more animated on the touchline as the visitors failed to make the most of possession, especially when on the break.
Maintained threat
Dzeko hooked Zabaleta's cross behind as the Blues maintained their threat before Koscielny made a couple of timely last-gasp tackles.
When Arsenal did work the ball forwards into the City penalty area, Chamakh could only crash an angled drive into the sidenetting.
On 67 minutes, Park was replaced by Ivory Coast frontman Gervinho.
The change gave the Gunners some extra urgency in attack to supplement Oxlade-Chamberlain's tireless running.
Dzeko glanced what was a decent chance wide, before Owen Hargreaves was replaced by Abdul Razak.
Arsenal also made a change for the final 10 minutes of normal time, bringing on Thomas Vermaelen for full-back Ignasi Miquel.
The tie was decided seven minutes from time when City broke quickly from an Arsenal corner and produced a finish worthy of their multi-million pound attack.
Dzeko's long ball split the Arsenal defence, before Johnson brilliantly played in Aguero - and the Argentinian coolly slotted past Lukasz Fabianski.
Arsenal sent on Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin for Oxlade-Chamberlain in the closing stages as they searched for an equaliser, but Chamakh could not connect with an Emmanuel Frimpong cross across the face of goal as City held on for the victory.
| Arsenal |
Team Statistics |
Manchester City |
| 0 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 6 |
Shots on Target |
1 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
7 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 7 |
Corners |
3 |
| 10 |
Fouls |
12 |
| 0 |
Offsides |
6 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 77.5 |
Passing Success |
82.1 |
| 32 |
Tackles |
24 |
| 81.2 |
Tackles Success |
79.2 |
| 46.6 |
Possession |
53.4 |
| 60.6 |
Territorial Advantage |
39.4 |
| 400 |
Total Passes |
480 |
| 25 |
Total Crosses |
11 |
| 173 |
Lost Balls |
175 |
| 62 |
Recoveries |
70 |
| 0 |
1st Half Poss. |
0 |
| 0 |
2nd Half Poss. |
0 |
|
