Carling Cup verdict: Arsenal 0 Manchester City 1

City claimed a place in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup thanks to a brilliant breakaway goal scored by Sergio Aguero. Both sides may have sent out rotated sides, but winning at Arsenal for the first time in 34 years is another psychological boost for City.

Only Samir Nasri of the starting eleven at Liverpool began this match, though Aguero did play the majority after coming on for Kolarov after 31 minutes. There was a slight surprise in seeing the right-footed Zabaleta playing at left-back. The Argentine had a fine game, using all his defensive nous to prevent the dangerous Oxlade-Chamberlain causing significant damage.

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Carling Cup player ratings: Arsenal v Manchester City

Pantilimon – Produced a save from Park that matched anything by Joe Hart at Anfield. Still needs to work on dealing with crosses but this was a much more promising display from the Romanian. 8

Zabaleta – For all the praise being directed at Oxlade-Chamberlain, he rarely got the better of Pablo who did an excellent job defensively. 8

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