Manchester City 3 - 0 Arsenal: City hammer Arsenal to set up derby in semi-final

Published on Wednesday 2 December 2009 23:30

MANCHESTER City manager Mark Hughes is relishing a two-legged derby clash with rivals Manchester United in the semi- finals of the Carling Cup after a comfortable win over Arsenal.

Second-half goals from Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Vladimir Weiss booked City's place in the last four of a domestic cup competition for the first time since 1981 and they will now take on holders United in the last four.

"The whole of Manchester will be tuning in and we're looking forward to some fantastic games," Hughes said. "We would have fancied ourselves against anyone in the draw, so bring them on."

The win halted a run of seven straight league draws, and Hughes added: "We've broken that cycle we'd like to think. We have great talent and we have lots of threats in the attacking sense but I was really pleased with our defensive work, we set the tone from first minute to the last."

Hughes was surprised his Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger disappeared down the tunnel before he could shake hands with him.

"You have to be gracious when you win and gracious in defeat and maybe Arsene wasn't too gracious, but I can understand it. Maybe he's used to winning games and when he does get beat sometimes he doesn't know how to behave."

Wenger's curt response to Hughes' comment was: "I think I have nothing to say. I am free to shake hands with whom I want."

While Hughes has hopes of emulating their Wembley triumph in this competition under Tony Book in 1976, Wenger was left staring at the wreckage of a wretched week which may beg the question of whether his grand plan is that grand after all.

Twelve months ago, at exactly the same stage of the competition, Tevez scored four times as Manchester United romped past Blackburn on the way to providing the South American with a winners' medal at Wembley.

Yet his presence in Sir Alex Ferguson's side that day emphasised that he was not part of the best United team, a fact that became more obvious as the season wore on. The outcome was a controversial move across town to City, whose supporters initially gloried in the capture of a man Ferguson had tried to keep.

However, that enthusiasm – and the infamous "Welcome to Manchester" poster – has given way to a more sceptical view as City's season has headed downhill.

Yet even if the hustle and bustle can sometimes have no meaningful end product, Tevez remains a difficult man to subdue.

And when he nicked the ball away from Tomas Rosicky and played a one-two with Craig Bellamy, Tevez embarked on a crab-like run across the box before pulling the trigger on a shot that crashed in off the underside of the bar.

City's long-suffering fans were ecstatic. And they had even more to celebrate 20 minutes later when Wright-Phillips collected Kolo Toure's short pass and galloped at Mikael Silvestre, who failed to get tight enough.

It was an open invitation to shoot. And the little England winger obliged, Lukasz Fabianski again left clutching at air, with absolutely no hope of getting near the ball. For Hughes and his City team, the pressure valve applied by seven straight Premier League draws has been released, until next month's semi-final at least.

Weiss popped up to tap home a third in the final minute, but long before that a whole generation of City fans were expectantly looking ahead to that long-awaited semi-final.

It has been a very bad week for Wenger. He might argue that this defeat is not on the same scale as Sunday's hammering by league leaders Chelsea.

But after four years without a trophy, the Gunners are desperate for some – any – silverware. And they are not getting this.

Man City: Given, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Wright-Phillips (Weiss 77), Ireland, Barry, Bellamy, Tevez (Kompany 74), Adebayor. Subs Not Used: Taylor, Onuoha, Johnson, Robinho, Santa Cruz. Booked: Kompany, Bellamy.

Arsenal: Fabianski, Eboue, Song Billong, Silvestre, Traore, Eastmond (Watt 68), Merida, Ramsey, Rosicky, Wilshere, Vela. Subs Not Used: Mannone, Bartley, Coquelin, Frimpong, Gilbert, Randall. Booked: Traore, Eastmond, Silvestre, Wilshere, Song Billong, Ramsey.

Att: 46,015

Ref: Chris Foy (Merseyside).