Man City still perfect at home in Premier League after putting six past Arsenal

Manchester City probably wishes it could play every English Premier League game at home.

When City crushed Arsenal 6-3 in the early kickoff to close to within three points of the Gunners atop the standings, it improved to a perfect 8-0-0 at the Etihad Stadium this season.

City has scored a staggering 35 goals in the eight games and Saturday’s result marked the fifth time Manuel Pellegrini’s men netted at least four goals at home – following similarly emphatic victories versus Tottenham, Norwich, Newcastle and Manchester United.

Heading into the weekend’s games, Arsenal held the best defensive record in the top flight, too.

The only bad news for City on Saturday was an injury that forced leading scorer Sergio Aguero to exit shortly after halftime.

“It is a real fortress here,” City’s influential captain, Vincent Kompany, told BT Sport. “It was a great game for the fans.

“At times the tempo was frightening. We looked to be in control of the game for most of it. There were no standout individual performances but collectively we’ve done incredibly well.”

Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho scored his first two goals for City since a summer move from Shakhtar Donetsk, with Aguero, Alvaro Negredo, David Silva and Yaya Toure adding the other strikes.

Theo Walcott scored twice for Arsenal, which not only lost the game but saw key central defender Laurent Koscielny suffer a serious looking knee injury prior to the interval.

Arsenal must pick itself up for another big match next week, against Chelsea at home.

“Overall, they deserved the win,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. “We have to go home and recover and come back for the next time.”

Aguero – who trails only his fellow South American, Luis Suarez, in the league scoring chart – began the goal rush with a header in the 14th minute before a Toure error allowed Walcott to level.

Negredo converted a Pablo Zabaleta cross to make it 2-1 and the game was effectively over when Fernandinho curled a shot into the corner in the 50th minute after a poor pass from Arsenal’s $69 million man, Mesut Ozil.

“We made too many technical mistakes today,” said Wenger.

Walcott again cut the deficit to one in the 63rd minute but three minutes later the Arsenal defense was split open and Silva restored the two-goal advantage.

A trio of goals in the dying minutes completed the scoring.

“It’s not easy to score six goals against Arsenal, the best defense in the Premier League, the best team this year,” said Pellegrini.

“We must continue working and improving because we have a lot more things to improve.”

Perhaps he was referring to City’s road record, which stands at two wins, four losses and two draws. City, however, did win at Bayern Munich in the Champions League in midweek.

Read: City ends Bayern streak

Chelsea edged Crystal Palace 2-1 at home and now trails Arsenal by a mere two points in second while Everton – which beat Manchester United and held Arsenal in its previous two outings – scored three late goals to overcome Fulham 4-1.

The Toffees rose to fourth, one point ahead of idle Liverpool.

West Brom sacks Clarke

West Bromwich Albion lost 1-0 at promoted Cardiff City and later fired manager Steve Clarke.

Under Clarke last term, the Baggies recorded their best season in the top flight in more than 30 years, finishing eighth, but the defeat to Cardiff was a fourth in succession.

West Brom sunk to 16th, two points above the relegation zone.

“This Club’s track record proves we do not take such decisions lightly, having only enforced a change in this position three times in approximately 14 years,” sporting and technical director Richard Garlick told West Brom’s website.

“But with key games coming thick and fast, we felt it was important we acted now to give the Club the best possible chance of a successful outcome this season.”

No permanent successor was named.