45 min: Sagna crosses. Kompany heads away. Arteta crosses. Lescott heads away. Gibbs crosses. Clichy heads away. This may not be the way forward for Arsenal. There will be three minutes of stoppage time. 41 min: Arsenal have lost their fluency going forward. "I just noticed that Balotelli has a t-shirt under his City shirt with a new sensational message printed on waiting to be revealed should he score," says Andy Butler. "First word says "you" by the looks of it... any ideas on what the rest might say?!" It's four letters, starts with an 'f' and ends with a 'k'. Keep it simple and offensive. 38 min: At last, Balotelli is booked for raising his studs on Sagna again. How is he still on the pitch? The challenge came after a dangerous move from City, Nasri sliding Aguero through down the inside-right channel. His touch inside looked to have done for Koscielny, only for the ball to run away from him, allowing Arsenal to recover. City have weathered the storm though and are starting to dominate. 35 min: Arsenal's defence is caught horribly square by a glorious pass from deep in his own half by Pizarro, who'd picked out Balotelli's run through the middle. Fortunately for Arsenal, Szczesny read the situation and raced out of his area to boot the ball clear. This game is much more even now. 34 min: Joe Hart finds himself at full stretch to punch away an Arteta free-kick from the left. 32 min: Now Sagna's gone down injured. Can everyone stop getting injured? Inevitably it was Balotelli who did the deed, with another ludicrous studs-up challenge. It's a whole new take on the forward's challenge. Luckily this time he didn't make contact, not that it should make much of a difference. It was still dangerous play. It had nothing on this though. 31 min: City are starting to ask some questions of their own now. Barry sends another corner to the far post from the right, where Lescott heads a difficult chance wide. "Referees have never been fitter and never been poorer in their judgements," says Gary Naylor. Sian Massey seems the only official who consistently gets big calls right. 29 min: City have started to come into this a bit more now. Aguero turns a ball into the area for Zabaleta, but the full-back uses his arm in a bid to control the pass. 26 min: And it so nearly was as City pull off a training ground routine. Balotelli, who shouldn't be on the pitch, darts from the far post into the middle of the area and meets Barry's low corner with a prod that Gibbs hacks clear a few yards away from his own goal. A timely warning for Arsenal, who have been superior in all departments except for the scoreboard. "I hope that Balotelli getting away scot free with what was should have been a definite sending off in the first twenty minutes of the game appeases some of those that spent the entire United game asking for City go be given a goal for nothing like United," notes Prateek Chadha. 25 min: City mount their first attack, Koscielny heading Zableta's cross towards Balotelli behind. Now, this would be the ultimate smash-and-grab. "In regards to the Tracksuit tops, Ballotelli finds them easier to put on and take off than them confusing bibs," honks David Clarke. 23 min: Koscielny heads over from another Arteta corner. Mario Balotelli though. He is an utter liability. "Mancini should definitely bring in Tevez," says Cecilia Marjakangas. Love him or hate him, he's a big game player and incredibly talented and tenacious. Plus he doesn't feel the pressure; he just wants to play. Hope he'll be subbed in; the sooner the better. He'd cause all sorts of bother to the Arsenal defence. They'll have to get the ball first. 20 min: Mario Balotelli should be off after a horrendous leg-breaker of a challenge on Alex Song. He let the ball run away from him, completely lost his head and then went in studs-up on Song's shin. He's off getting treatment and should continue, but he is extraordinarily lucky to still be the proud owner of two legs because that was a dreadful, moronic tackle. Presumably Martin Atkinson didn't see it, because if he did there is no question that he would have shown the red card instantly. 19 min: Ironic jeers from the home fans as Nasri messes up a through-ball to Aguero. "Perhaps Alan Parry's comment about "getting no sound at all" was a comment on Arsenal's famous library atmosphere?" says Justin Kavanagh. Even with Sir Alex's noisy neighbours in town. They're bang up for this one today. 18 min: City get into Arsenal's half! 17 min: David Pizarro replaces the injured Yaya Toure. 16 min: Brilliant defending from Vermaelen stops Arsenal from taking the lead. Hang on a minute. This is quite staggering. Arteta curls a fine corner into the six-yard box that takes Hart out of the equation. With City all over the place, Van Persie bullets a header towards the empty net, only for it to strike the unwitting Vermaelen on the line and deflect up on to the bar. Rosicky heads the rebound wide. What an escape for City. Perhaps Vermaelen was just offended at the state of their defending. 14 min: Rosicky dinks the ball into the area, in the general direction of Van Persie, who goes down under a challenge from Kompany. It didn't matter too much, as Lescott headed the ball behind anyway, but I've seen them given. Before the corner can be taken, Yaya Toure, clearly in some distress, has limped off again. His afternoon is surely over. That's a huge blow for City. Everything's going wrong. 13 min: City can't live with the frenetic pace Arsenal are playing at. The hosts are getting the ball wide at every opportunity, although City have been comfortable enough dealing with the high crosses that have followed. 11 min: Arsenal have had 74% possession so far, although Joe Hart hasn't had to make a save yet. It surely can't be long before he has to, the way this is going. "A couple of weeks ago was talking to Tord Grip in a pub in Stockholm, who told me about all the problems Sven-Göran Eriksson had with Mancini as a player at Sampdoria, where SGE was coach before he left for Lazio, where Mancini later joined him," says Nigel Moore. Apparently, Mancini was quite a hot-tempered character on and off the pitch. Maybe he's forgotten how Eriksson's low-key handling of his antics actually worked? Well Gareth Southgate never had too many good things to say about it. 10 min: Finally City get a breather as Yaya Toure stays down after a collision with Song. The Arsenal fans aren't happy about it, even though Toure has hobbled off. Roberto Mancini stands on the touchline, smiling and shaking his head. I'm not entirely sure why; it wasn't a bad foul, but for the time being City are down to 10 men. 8 min: This is one-way traffic, largely because Sagna has so much space on the right. Joleon Lescott is screaming at Balotelli to track back. That's bound to end well. Another cross from Sagna finds its way to Rosicky on the edge of the area, and his drive is deflected wide of the left post. Another corner comes to nothing. Do City know this has started? 7 min: City are being worked over here. Arteta finds Sagna in space on the right side of the area, but in typical Arsenal style there's no one in the area when the cross comes in. "I like Mancini, but I had the same reaction as you to his comment that all he needed were two or three more players," says Richard Arthur. That CAN'T be the problem: not when City have bought about 10 of the top forwards available in the last three years, not when they have overtaken rivals by sucking out the hearts of their teams (Arsenal, Aston VIlla, Everton). Mancini's problem is, and was always going to be, how well he managed to mould all this talent into a team. I think he's done pretty well, but in a way it is the lack of injuries that has hurt him. No one can criticize you if you have to leave your best players out, or are forced to play players out of position, and a bit of adversity helps team spirit. Just compare with what Ferguson and Wenger had to do with injury-ravaged defences. 6 min: Alan Parry is in all sorts of trouble in the Sky commentary position. "What the hell's going on?" he parps. I'm getting no sound at all! Then moments later: "I don't even know if we're going out." I'm guessing he wasn't having a relationship talk with Gary Neville. 5 min: Still Arsenal press, Sagna winning a corner off his former fellow full-back Clichy. Hart punches Van Persie's corner away under pressure and has the wind knocked out of him by Song for his troubles. 3 min: Arteta curls the resulting free-kick towards the unmarked Van Persie, but fortunately for City, Kompany heads the ball over his own bar. Arteta whips the corner in from the left. Hart is tempted to come off his line, gets nowhere near it and is relieved to see the ball headed away. It's all Arsenal here. 2 min: More boos as Samir Nasri finds himself in the general vicinity of the ball. Arsenal have started this one at a brisk pace, and Rosicky skips away from Yaya Toure in the middle, the City midfielder responding by tugging him back, earning a very early booking indeed. We're off. Well, the players are, anyway. Arsenal get us going, attacking from left to right. They're in their red and white shirts, while City have got rid of their tracksuit tops. They were well worth it. There are early boos from the home fans as Gael Clichy takes a throw. Do they really miss him though? He's not especially good. A friendly handshake between Kaptain Kompany and Robin van Persie in the tunnel. City are wearing blue tracksuit tops. What's the point of that? They'll take them off in two minutes, and then they'll be littering the pitch, someone else expected to clear them up. Here's another email. "In regards to Mancini's criticising Johnson's attitude, surely this is further evidence of perhaps Mancini's greatest flaw: duff man-management, evidenced in his slagging off players in public," says the ubiqitous Ryan Dunne. If memory serves, Lord Ferg didn't even do that when he was e.g. (literally!) attacking David Beckham privately. That said, I'm not too sure about Mourinho at City winning the European cup in two years. He'd still have Barcelona standing in the way, and wouldn't have Ronaldo at his disposable (isn't it well established that Mourinho did get the sort of control that previous Real Madrid managers have lacked, so it's not like his "failure" to win the European Cup with them reflects constraints that wouldn't be in place if he moved to City?) " Mancini seems intent on playing the victim, constantly bemoaning his team's stupidity. It's not me, it's them! Give me new players! He's protecting himself, but it doesn't come across well and gives the impression of a manager not coping well with adversity. Here's an email. "So, Jacob, why isn't Adam Johnson even amongst the subs?" asks Rob Hisnay. Has he fallen that far out of favor with Mancini? Adam Johnson doesn't really have what it takes to succeed at City. He's had some decent moments here and there, but it's difficult to remember doing anything against decent opposition. I wonder if it's because he lacks a change of pace, that extra burst of acceleration that separates the best players. Mancini has repeatedly criticised his attitude as well. "Is not today's 'Top Four' clash a further indicator of the mediocrity of 'The Most Exciting and Best League in the World' (TM R Murdoch)?" says Lou Roper. For instance, does anyone, aside perhaps from M Wenger, actually believe that Rosicky (admittedly rejeuvenated) and serial flatter-to-deceive Benayoun offer viable attacking options to Van Persie against well-organized sides (of course, the presence of the wretched Chamakh on the bench suggests limited options here in general)? On the other hand, your analysis of $ity is generally spot-on: who scouts these players anyway? One point to dispute (otherwise, where is the fun?: Balotelli is only 20 and, for some reason, as Mancini has observed everything he says and does receives more attention than, say, war and coup d'etat in Mali. "City are going to demolish Arsenal today," says Fritz. The show must go on.Too harsh on City, Arsenal have had an awful season too, flirting with relegation and all that. It just so happened that City had their good run at the start of the season and Arsenal in March. Anyway, the gods who look over the Premiership Circus demands a City victory to keep the title race interesting and the struggle for 3rd and 4th exciting, so that's what will happen. Arsenal have just about rescued their season, assuming they finish in the top four. "Disastrous week for me in my B.P.L. referee fantasy league as I had both the Mike Jones and Lee Mason officiating crews in my lineup," says JR in Illinois. Now I need Martin Atkinson to blow at least three calls today or I am going to fall out of a playoff position. Team news. Arsenal have picked the same team that beat Tottenham 5-2, while City have decided to give David Silva the rest he needed three months ago. Returning hero Samir Nasri starts instead of him, and Sergio Aguero is back after foot spray knack. He's on the bench. Arsenal: Szczesny; Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Song, Arteta; Walcott, Rosicky, Benayoun; Van Persie. Subs: Fabianski, Djourou, Santos, Jenkinson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Chamakh. Manchester City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy; Yaya Toure, Barry, Milner; Nasri, Aguero, Balotelli. Subs: Pantilimon, Richards, Kolarov, De Jong, Pizarro, Dzeko, Tevez. Referee: Martin Atkinson. Afternoon. So Roberto Mancini reckons he needs two or three more players and only then will Manchester City be ready to win something. Ah, if only City had some ridiculous financial advantage that would make them look utterly ridiculous for ending a season potless. Of course, point out that the title race isn't over yet, but it might as well be if City don't beat Arsenal this afternoon, a scenario that would leave them eight points Manchester United with six games to play and praying for a Devon Loch moment. Which isn't about to happen any time soon. They've made a right balls-up of this, even if United's form since losing to Newcastle in January has been typically relentless, and it will not be a surprise if Mancini pays for it with his job at the end of the season. While certain players have lost their form at the most vital point of the season, Mancini has desperately underperformed and it is certainly questionable whether he is out of his depth at the very top. After all, his success at Inter was largely down to their rivals being Calciopolied and he was ultimately sacked for not being able to hack it in Europe. Jose Mourinho succeeded him and won the Champions League two years later; you'd put money on him doing the same at City. At City, their performances in Europe have been similarly poor. While their Champions League group was difficult, they had a team good enough to beat Napoli - Chelsea did - and in any case, they have been knocked out of the Europa League in successive years by Dynamo Kiev and Sporting Lisbon, who are nobody's definition of fearsome European powerhouses. But the struggles on the continent would be easier to ignore if City hadn't messed up their domestic campaign. It is easy enough to pinpoint where they have gone wrong. They won five of their first six away games, a run that included stonking wins at Tottenham, Blackburn and United. During that run at the start, they scored 23 times, although they only kept one clean sheet, which didn't seem such a big deal when the goals were flowing. But since a hard-fought win at QPR in November, Mancini went back to a more conservative style, harming their attacking rythym. They have only won two away games since then, 1-0 victories at Wigan and Aston Villa, and have been beaten by Chelsea, Sunderland, Everton and Swansea. They have failed to score more than one goal in any away game since winning at Loftus Road. By comparison, United have won 12 times on their travels to City's seven. The suspicion now is that City's millions have not been spent wisely. Edin Dzeko is a leaden-footed flop and will probably be sold in the summer, Mario Balotelli cannot be trusted, the options at left-back are not satisfactory, Stefan Savic is a menace to his own side and Samir Nasri, returning to the Emirates today, has only shown glimpses of what he can do. Against that, there is surely more than enough talent at City for them not to be in this position, but then again Sergio Aguero and David Silva have both tired. Perhaps the biggest problem is their lack of width. Adam Johnson is the only wide player of any note and Mancini has obviously not noticed that the champions usually have the best wingers. Has Mancini not heard of Jason Wilcox and Stuart Ripley? Now, Arsenal aren't about to win the league, but given their disdain for City and the players who have joined them, they will take an immense amount of pleasure if they win today. At 2pm, just after Emmanuel Adebayor had put Tottenham 2-0 up at the Emirates on 25 February 2012, their season was more or less over, but their resurgence since then has been remarkable. A point today will move them back into third place, above Spurs on goal difference. Wenger sides have had a habit down the years of going on these improbable runs of form. They're a strange bunch really, just as capable of blowing a four-goal lead as they are of winning 10 games in a row out of nowhere. City could do with something like that.