Wojciech Szczesny
Got lucky with the penalty, and did well to stop Tevez late on. Earlier save from Tevez was tapped in by Dzeko, although he could have done little else. 7/10
Bacary Sagna
Overloaded once Oxlade-Chamberlain departed, forced to plough the entire right flank on his own. But ran his heart out, marked well and was tidy in possession. 7
Laurent Koscielny
Lasted less than 10 minutes. Dzeko’s strength was already causing him problems before he was sent off for a crude rugby tackle, dropping his whole team in the mess. 4
Thomas Vermaelen
Held his own well against the taller Dzeko. Positionally sound for the most part and was quick to maraud forward to chase lost causes. 7
Kieran Gibbs
Full marks for effort, none for quality. Bundled off the ball by Zabaleta in the first half, which led to City’s second goal. Tended to switch off at key moments. 5
Abou Diaby
Avoids an even lower score because it was his first match in four months. Did almost nothing right, from slack passing to constantly finding himself on the wrong side of his man. 4
Jack Wilshere
Another gutsy, world-class display in a defeat. The ball was always safe at his feet, and he covered huge distances despite getting painful studs in the leg from Milner. 8
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
An unfortunate casualty of Koscielny’s dismissal. Replaced by Mertesacker after just 12 minutes, having held his own against Clichy and played one decent cross-field ball. 6
Santi Cazorla
Forced to live off scraps. Rarely had time on the ball, enjoyed few options when he did get it, and had to cover the right flank for almost an hour. Minimal impact. 5
Lukas Podolski
Arsenal’s most potent attacking thrust after going a man down. But it was his foul on Garcia that led to the free-kick from which Milner opened the scoring. 7
Theo Walcott
An irrelevance for virtually the entire afternoon. Playing centre forward appears to be his new method of avoiding defending. Barely got his shirt dirty and offered nothing. 4
Substitutes: Per Mertesacker was Koscielny’s early replacement, and was just about adequate. Olivier Giroud was brought on to add some thrust. Instead, he missed two superb chances. But like the string quartet playing on a sinking Titanic, Aaron Ramsey remained remarkably unflustered while all foundered around him.