Arsenal 0 Manchester City 2: James Milner and Edin Dzeko keep Citizens in title race

Goals from James Milner and Edin Dzeko, both scored after Laurent Koscielny had been dismissed early on, ensured that Manchester City registered their first league win at Arsenal since October 1975.

The Premier League champions had a man sent off too — captain Vincent Kompany on 75 minutes — but by then the match was out of reach for the Gunners.

City remain seven points behind the league leaders at the top of the division after this weekend’s matches.

But Arsenal’s hopes of finishing in one of the crucial top four places will continue to fade if they are unable to match the teams around them.

The match was just 10 minutes old when Koscielny was shown a red card by referee Mike Dean for bundling over Dzeko in the penalty area.

The Bosnian striker, however, saw his spot-kick saved by Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

City’s players were dominant in the first half and were comfortably in the lead by half-time. Little changed after the interval.

The visitors found the breakthrough on 21 minutes when a quick free kick from Manchester City’s Gareth Barry opened up Arsenal’s defence.

Carlos Tevez collected the pass and played a fine through ball to Milner, who finished with a thunderous drive with his right foot.

A second came on 32 minutes from Dzeko, who tapped in a loose ball from close range after Tevez’s effort was stopped by Szczesny.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger introduced striker Olivier Giroud in the second half in a bid to salvage something from the match but City rarely looked troubled by their opponents, even after Kompany received his marching orders for a dangerous tackle on Jack Wilshere.