SERGIO AGUERO hit Arsenal with a late sucker-punch to send Manchester City into the Carling Cup semi-finals.<\/p>\n
The Gunners had this by the scruff of the neck \u2014 yet blew it when Aguero slotted home after an 83rd-minute breakaway.<\/p>\n
City boss Roberto Mancini had even been forced into the embarrassment of first-half tactical change. Yet that move came back to haunt the Gunners \u2014 as it was Aguero thrown on for Aleksander Kolorov.<\/p>\n
And the Argy star popped up in the dying stages to send last year’s beaten finalists packing. Both sets of fans paid tribute to Gary Speed with a moving minute’s applause before kick-off.<\/p>\n
Yet that goodwill was gone once this got underway \u2014 with former Gunners hero Samir Nasri jeered from the start.<\/p>\n
Adam Johnson had the first opening after 10 minutes \u2014 only to fire just over after cutting in from the right.<\/p>\n
Arsenal went straight back down the other end and nearly broke through. But Chu-Young Park scuffed Francis Coquelin’s cross.<\/p>\n
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was giving City the runaround \u2014 and drew a first-class save from stopper Costel Pantilimon.<\/p>\n
The Arsenal kid star leathered on from 25 yards out. And it was heading straight for the top corner until Pantilimon palmed it over.<\/p>\n
Mancini shuffling his pack on 32 minutes \u2014 with Aguero coming on for Kolorov.<\/p>\n
With half-time looming, City looked to have caught the hosts on the hop.<\/p>\n
But Edin Dzeko could not pick out Nasri and the attack fizzled out.<\/p>\n
Seconds after the restart, Yossi Benayoun had a clear shot on goal \u2014 but blew it when he mis-controlled Park’s through ball.<\/p>\n
Oxlade-Chamberlain kept up the assault and danced past Pablo Zabaleta before fizzing in a shot.<\/p>\n
Zabaleta had a rare surge forward just before the hour but his cross was hooked wide by Dzeko.<\/p>\n
Chamakh was the next to threaten, although the Morocco star shot wide under pressure.<\/p>\n
Wenger tried to break the deadlock by throwing Gervinho into the mix with 20 minutes left.<\/p>\n
Instead, it was City who sealed the tie when Aguero tucked away after great work from flying winger Adam Johnson.<\/p>\n
Arsenal had a sighter in injury-time \u2014 but Chamakh missed out after a dangerous cross. And Arsenal, who lost so traumatically against Birmingham last season, saw another trophy hope vanish.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SERGIO AGUERO hit Arsenal with a late sucker-punch to send Manchester City into the Carling Cup semi-finals. The Gunners had this by the scruff of the neck \u2014 yet blew it when Aguero slotted home after an 83rd-minute breakaway. City boss Roberto Mancini had even been forced into the embarrassment of first-half tactical change<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n