Two brilliant goals – one from Arsenal and the other from Manchester City – and an equally-good Olivier Giroud strike ensured this match at the Emirates had all the excitement you come to expect in the English Premier League.
Arsenal were the ones singing and laughing and cheering and celebrating at the end of the 90 minutes, after Theo Walcott, with an absolute belter, and Giroud gave them a vital victory over Manchester City, despite the best efforts of Yaya Toure.
There is little doubt that Arsenal were the deserved winners in this match, taking complete control of the contest the moment the first goal went in a couple of minutes past the half hour. Walcott was the man to score that goal, curling in an absolute beauty past Joe Hart.
Giroud then gave Arsenal a much-needed cushion-goal, striking low and hard past Hart after, who else, Mesut Ozil set him up with a perfectly-weighted ball.
Arsenal weren't dominant in terms of possession in the match, but they had the majority of the clearcut chances. While they put the two they received in the first half away, they were quite guilty of missing scores of them in the second half.
That is something that Arsene Wenger will have to work with his team, because those misses could have really cost them in the end as Yaya Toure made the final 10 minutes interesting with a peach of a striker with his left foot, a floater that just nestled into the top corner.
However, Arsenal would not be denied, and rightly too, because they were far and away the better team in this match, cutting the gap to Leicester City back to two points, with Manchester City, who suffered their fifth loss of the season, a further four points behind.
