Manchester City tasted defeat for the first time under Sven Goran Eriksson after they lost out to Arsenal 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium.

Kasper Schmeichel continued his impressive performance in the goal, saving a penalty kick from Robin van Persie, but was finally beaten in the 80th minute by Cesc Fabregas, after ending the previous three matches with clean sheets.

Arsenal fielded a make-shift defense when Philippe Senderos pulled out of the game after injuring his ankle in pre-match warm-up. Gilberto Silva was picked up in the central defense and though the Arsenal defense gave a number of chances, the City attackers failed to hit the target. There was also a change in goal for Arsenal as Manuel Almunia replaced Jens Lehmann after the German keeper's error led to Arsenal dropping two points against Blackburn.

Arsenal dominated the possession in the early parts of the match with City happy to sit back and counter-attack. Arsenal's defensive woes increased in the 19th minute when Bacary Sagna limped off the field and Mathieu Flamini had to be repositioned as a makeshift right back.

Emile Mpenza and Elano ere in the thick of City's attack in the first half but were unable to provide the finishing touches to some good chances to score. Elano had the best chance of the match when he got possession of the ball near the edge of the area and in spite of unmarked team mates on either side, decided to shoot himself. However his shot went straight into the waiting arms of Almunia.

Meanwhile Arsenal were finding it hard to break down the City defense with both Richard Dunne and Micah Richards in top of their form. And on rare occasions when they managed to beat the defenders, Schmeichel came up with some excellent saves to deny the Gunners.

Arsenal finally had a break in the 65th minute when Alexander Hleb was fouled in the area by Richards and the referee awarded a penalty to the hosts. However Schmeichel was up to the task and denied van Persie with his legs. The Dutch striker tried a long range shot two minutes later but was again denied by Schmeichel.

Just when it looked that the game would end in stalemate, Arsenal struck. A good passing move found Hleb on the right side and the 26-year old found Fabregas in the center who hit a stinging drive into the roof of the net to breach the City defense for the first time this season. Schmeichel very nearly got the equalizer for City in the dying minutes of the game but his header was saved by Almunia.