Player Ratings: Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City

Joe Hart (6.5): Hart was not exactly peppered with shots. In fact, Arsenal's first goal -- an unstoppable strike from Theo Walcott -- came on the Gunners' first real shot of the game. Hart cannot be faulted for the second Arsenal goal either, as Olivier Giroud tucked one under the City netminder to extend the lead on the stroke of halftime.

Bacary Sagna (6.5): Sagna returned to familiar territory and faced some familiar faces, but he was unable to dominate on the right flank.

Nicolas Otamendi (6.5): Never lacking for effort, the Argentine went in strongly and worked hard. But Arsenal has plenty of attacking weapons on form at the moment -- despite some injury woes -- which City's back line got to see first-hand.

Eliaquim Mangala (6.5): His errant pass led to Arsenal's second goal, but overall it was his only major error when on the ball. Off the ball he was tactically decent, but this is a different side when Vincent Kompany is out there.

Aleksandar Kolarov (6.5): His night was not terribly different from Sagna's. He was certainly not tormented by Joel Campbell on the flank, yet he struggled to make a major impact on the game.

Fernandinho (7.0): Mesut Ozil is playing spectacular football at the moment. He is a genius on the ball and is seemingly getting better every game. With that said, Fernandinho did quite a respectable job in terms of containing the German midfielder. Ozil logged two assists, but without Fernandinho sitting in, the damage could have been worse.

Yaya Toure (7.5): Last quarter hour? Unleash the kraken. Toure sauntered around for the first 75 minutes of the game, sometimes getting caught fairly high up the pitch. He was a monster in the closing stages, though, almost singlehandedly drawing City level. Explosive movement off the ball, physical superiority and deadly finishing -- but it came just a bit too late for the visitors.

Kevin De Bruyne (7.0): 32 minutes in, De Bruyne looked as though he had scored the opener. He hit a low shot to Petr Cech's far post, but it went narrowly wide. David Silva clearly wanted the feed at the far post after sprinting into the area, but City came up empty. A minute later, Walcott hit a screamer to put Arsenal in front. Overall, KDB cut in dangerously and flashed some moments of magic in possession with Silva and company, but there was not a tremendous amount of linkup play with Aguero.

David Silva (6.5): He just did not see much of the ball. Ozil got the ball in pockets of space and threatened City's back line, but the same cannot be said for his counterpart Silva. No. 21 will undoubtedly return to his dazzling ways sooner rather than later, but he is going to need the ball at his feet far more often.

Fabian Delph (6.0): Delph appeared to pick up a minor injury in the opening minutes but was fine to continue playing. It was nothing serious, but he was at least figuratively hobbling down the left wing at times. Delph is a promising player, but his departure at the half indicated that Monday night was not exactly going swimmingly.

Sergio Aguero (6.0): He did not get too many touches and had a conspicuously quiet night. Arsenal's center-back tandem had a strong game, but the goal machine is clearly still getting back into the groove as he knocks some rust off.

Substitutes:

Raheem Sterling (6.5): He is a perpetual threat on the flank because of his sheer pace, but his influence on the game was rather muted after coming on after the break.

Wilfried Bony (6.5): The Ivorian logged decent minutes but was unable to truly change the game after replacing Aguero.

Jesus Navas (6.5): He is unselfish and a passer first. Unsurprisingly, he elected to literally pass up an opportunity in front of goal in the second half, which resulted in City not even getting a shot off. He was on for just over 20 minutes, so unfortunately this missed chance somewhat defined his evening.