Arsenal moved up to second place in the Premier League with a 3-0 win against 10-man Manchester City at Eastlands Sunday.

In a game that was expected to be a test of both sides’ credentials, the contest became an uphill struggle for City as Dedryck Boyata received a red card in the game’s fifth minute, following a last-man hack on Gunners forward Marouane Chamakh.

Arsenal took advantage of its numerical advantage on 20 minutes when Samir Nasri played an excellent one-two with Andrey Arshavin to fire past the helpless City keeper Joe Hart.

Hart was the hero five minutes before the break though, as at full stretch he managed to keep out a Cesc Fabregas penalty after the Spanish midfielder had been brought down in the area by Vincent Kompany.

City battled valiantly but gaps began to appear in the second half and Alex Song finished emphatically in the 66th minute, before substitute Nicklas Bendtner put the gloss on with a cool effort in the dying stages.

Roberto Mancini opted to leave Emmanuel Adebayor on the bench despite his midweek hat-trick in the Europa League, so the former Arsenal man, who infamously ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of Gunners fans in last season’s fixture, was replaced by Carlos Tevez.

The Gunners victory places them alongside both Manchester clubs with 17 points in the Premier League – just five points behind first place Chelsea.Read more: http://www.skysports.com/football/match_report/0,19764,11065_3293493,00.html