Goals from Samir Nasri, Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner saw Arsenal beat title rivals Manchester City at Eastlands.City made the worst possible start as Dedryk Boyata was sent off for a last-man challenge on Marouane Chamakh.The visitors then went ahead when Nasri exchanged passes with Andrey Arshavin and fired home before Cesc Fabregas had a penalty saved by Joe Hart.Arsenal dominated after half-time and Song curled home to make it two before Bendtner slotted in to seal the points.The result sees Arsene Wenger's men leapfrog West Brom, Tottenham, City and Manchester United into second, five points adrift of Premier League leaders Chelsea.Much of the pre-match attention focused on Emmanuel Adebayor, who was the subject of huge controversy in the corresponding fixture last season and warmed up for the visit of his old club with a Europa League hat-trick against Lech Poznan in midweek.As it happened, Adebayor was relegated to the substitutes bench - but that did little to take the spice out of proceedings and the opening stages were marked by a series of unsavoury challenges.City almost opened the scoring within two minutes - Lukasz Fabianski reacting brilliantly to keep out David Silva's goalbound flick from a Carlos Tevez cross - but they soon were down to 10 men.Fabregas sent Marouane Chamakh racing clear and Boyata was the last man back as he clattered into the Moroccan striker just outside the box and failed to touch the ball.Arsenal initially struggled to make their numerical advantage tell and Denilson's yellow card for a mistimed tackled on Tevez summed up their early rustiness.Boyata's dismissal saw Yaya Toure drop into defence but City were still enjoying the lions share of possession and their formation - switching fluidly between 4-4-1, 4-2-2-1 and 4-2-3 - caused Arsenal plenty of problems.However, the Gunners eventually settled into something resembling their usual rhythm and it paid dividends.Shortly after an unmarked Johan Djourou had nodded over from Bacary Sagna's cross, Nasri and Arshavin played a one-two on the right-hand side of the area and the Frenchman escaped the attentions of Gareth Barry to fire past Hart at the near post.It was goal of the highest order but Arsenal failed to kick on and Fabregas, Song and Djourou were all cautioned by referee Mark Clattenburg as they struggled to keep pace with the vibrant hosts.Unfortunately for City, they were again undone by a mistimed tackle - Kompany felling Fabregas just inside the area with the Spaniard dribbling away from goal.It was an unnecessary challenge from the German but he was let off the hook when Hart dived to his left to claw away Fabregas' spot kick.Credit: BBC