Man City stay on course after thumping Arsenal

First-half goals from James Milner and Edin Dzeko put City in a commanding position against Arsenal, already down to 10 men after Laurent Koscielny was sent off in the 10th minute for bringing down Dzeko inside the box.

Manchester City's James Milner celebrates scoring the opening goal against Arsenal yesterday. Pic/AFP

Although Dzeko's penalty following Koscielny's red card was turned onto the post by Wojciech Szczesny, with the Arsenal goalkeeper gathering the rebound, it was not long before Milner and Dzeko himself made the man advantage count.

The visitors too were a man down at the Emirates Stadium when, 15 minutes from time, City captain Vincent Kompany was dismissed by referee Mike Dean for a challenge on Jack Wilshere despite appearing to win the ball first.

Second-placed City were briefly 10 points adrift of United after their cross-town rivalsu00a0beat Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford earlier yesterday.