Manchester City and Arsenal serve up a festive treat

David Silva and Sergio Aguero were instrumental in Manchester City's victory

Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal

If there were any lingering doubts about Manchester City's title credentials, they answered them in style with a hard-fought victory over Arsenal.

Monday's defeat to Chelsea had led many to say City would be thrown off their stride, but they will have been left in no uncertain terms that this team is the real deal.

They won't face many sterner tests than this one in what remains of this season.

Arsenal are back and this display proved it.

They started the campaign in disarray, conceding goals aplenty and in open mutiny, but Arsene Wenger has done a fantastic job to turn things around and with a bit more luck his side would have taken something from the Etihad Stadium.

It wasn't a vintage City display, but it was a performance which would have given manager Roberto Mancini a lot of pleasure.

Once again, he let the attacking talents he has at his disposal loose and that led to a pulsating game, full of end-to-end drama and, perhaps more importantly, excellent defending.

There have been many scintillating performances from City this season but this one may have been the best as far as Mancini is concerned.

City were still free-flowing and exciting, with David Silva and Samir Nasri combining to devastating effect, but they also had tremendous solidity and managed to keep a rare Premier League clean sheet.

Nasri was at his best against his former club (ANDREW YATES/AFP/Getty Images)

They were only marginally better than Arsenal, who will feel they deserved something from the game.

Their renewed fighting spirit and solidity were evident again, but their defeat ends any prospects of winning the title this season.

On this evidence though, a top four finish and yet another year in the Champions League is achievable.

That will be difficult, with City and Manchester United so strong, Tottenham so impressive, Chelsea so experienced and Liverpool enjoying a renaissance under Kenny Dalglish, but not many teams have given City as good a game as Arsenal did yesterday.

They have come a long way in just a few months and are once again producing the type of football which made them such an admired team.

Their impressive performance was in spite of being forced to play makeshift full-backs, so if Wenger can get all his players fit they could be the team to beat in the second half of the season.

Robin van Persie was bright and showed his quality without really threatening to score, and his goals will prove crucial in the Gunners' fight to secure another season in the Champions League.

Arsenal nearly levelled the game at the death with Thomas Vermaelen going agonisingly close, but there are surely far more positives than negatives for them to take away.

Vermaelen and van Persie should be disappointed with the result but not the performance (ANDREW YATES/AFP/Getty Images)

For City though, they just keep marching on. Their record of 50 goals in the opening 16 league games is staggering and they are looking more and more like the champions-elect.

Nasri saved his best performance in a City shirt for his former club, Silva was as sublime as ever and tapped in the winner, Joe Hart was again solid in goal and Vincent Kompany was back to his imperious best.

Sergio Aguero was typically bright and should have got on the scoresheet, while Gareth Barry was intelligent and calm.

City are looking more and more like a dream team and the defeat at Chelsea appears to have merely strengthened their resolve.

If the loss at Stamford Bridge was their test of character, then they passed it.

Arsenal could have took something from the Etihad Stadium, but Mancini ensured they didn't.

Mancini can take credit for how his side closed the game out

On 72 minutes, with the game resembling a basketball contest with its end-to-end nature, he took off Mario Balotelli and replaced him with James Milner, a change which took the sting out of Arsenal and calmed City down.

The game deserved more goals as it was perhaps the best of the season so far. It turned out to be a low-scoring classic.

Both teams can take an awful lot from the game.

Wenger must be much more positive than he was a few weeks ago, as his side have proved themselves to be worthy of playing for Arsenal and capable of a top four finish.

Mancini can celebrate his two-year anniversary in charge of City on top of the league and it is going to take a mighty effort to stop them lifting the title come the end of the season.

Arsenal gave it everything they had yet still came up short, while City have played all their major rivals away from home already.

This game was a festive treat with both sides providing great entertainment, but it is City's star which is shining most brightly.