Adebayor in bubbly mood as Arsenal's champagne style flows

Quite rightly, the whole country will share the emotions of Manchester United this week as they mark the 50th anniversary of Munich.

But in pure footballing terms, and what will be good for the Premier League, not even Sir Alex Ferguson's side at their best can quite reach the heights of Arsene Wenger's men.

From full-backs to centreforward, every outfield player wearing a red-and-white shirt was quick, inventive and pacy yesterday. Yes, even the much-maligned Philippe Senderos. And at the top end of the pitch, they have their leader.

The incomparable Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice to take his tally to eight in six games and keep pace with Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of the scoring charts. He was correctly named man-of-the-match and vowed to share his bottle of bubbly with team-mates.

"I am enjoying life like a little child," he said. "Everyone loves me, the fans love me and the goals are coming in every game. I will invite the rest of the team to have a drink with me. They all deserve it."

Wenger's judgment was questioned when the lanky Togo striker struggled last season, looking like a poor man's Kanu. Now he and Ronaldo are the two stand-out players in the Premier League.

"The biggest compliment I can give him is that he has filled the void left by Thierry Henry, and that is not easy because Thierry is a world-class player," said Wenger.

"He is strong, aggressive and generous to his team-mates. He lacked a bit of composure in front of goal last season, but now he is calm when he has a chance."

If Wenger was beaming, Sven Goran Eriksson was furious after seeing his side go two down in 25 minutes for the second successive weekend. Having seen them dumped out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United, the Swede fears they will miss out on Europe.

"We have to wake up if we want to get there as it looks far away at the moment," said the unusually gloomy Eriksson. "We weren't aggressive and didn't make life difficult for Arsenal in the first 25 minutes. And when a team like Arsenal go 2-0 up, it is difficult because they are good on the counter-attack.

"My players know I'm angry. It is up to them how they respond."

Watching, England boss Fabio Capello was probably only marginally less despondent than Eriksson. Only one of his squad was on show, Micah Richards, and he was given a torrid time by Adebayor.

Meanwhile, two Croatia stars showed enough class to show why Capello cannot assume England will get their revenge over Slaven Bilic's side in the forthcoming World Cup qualifying campaign.

Eduardo turned and smashed in a great volley for Arsenal's second goal while City's sole strike, from Gelson Fernandes, came after a good interception and pass by defender Vedran Corluka.

Arsenal have only lost once in the League all season and a second was not on the cards once Adebayor had given them the lead after nine minutes. Overlapping right-back Bacary Sagna had too much pace for City and he supplied the Togo striker to sweep home the opening goal.

As a result, Adebayor became the first man since Ruud van Nistelrooy to score in six successive Premier League games, leaving Wenger to smile: "It's good for me that Togo didn't qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations."

The stats showed Arsenal enjoyed 71 per cent of possession in the opening quarter. It looked even more one-sided than that.

The second goal had a hint of offside about it but City were too downhearted to complain. A string of passes ended up with Gael Clichy near the left byline.

His cross was nodded down by Adebayor and Eduardo controlled with his chest before swivelling and firing home.

Maybe Arsenal were complacent but within two minutes of going 2-0 up, Clichy dwelt on the ball and was robbed by Corluka for Fernandes to respond.

Joe Hart saved well from Adebayor as the visitors threatened to run riot and Wenger's only complaint in the second half could be that his side were guilty of trying to walk the ball in.

At 2-1 City always had a chance and Martin Petrov was wrongly flagged for offside when guilty party Darius Vassell was not interfering with play.

However, justice demanded Arsenal took the points with them and that was secured in the last couple of minutes. Referee Andre Marriner played advantage after Elano clipped Adebayor and the big striker got to his feet to finish up another delicious move involving Alex Hleb and Fabregas.

Man City: Hart, Corluka, Dunne, Richards, Ball, Ireland, Hamann, Gelson, Petrov, Elano, Sturridge. Subs: Schmeichel, Geovanni, Mpenza, Vassell, Jihai.

Arsenal: Lehmann, Sagna, Gallas, Senderos, Clichy, Hleb, Fabregas, Flamini, Diaby, Adebayor, Eduardo. Subs: Fabianski, Bendtner, Traore, Justin Hoyte, Walcott.

Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)