Gunners defeat ten-man City

Goals from Samir Nasri, Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner ensured Arsenal put a halt to Manchester City's impressive recent run of results with a 3-0 victory at Eastlands.

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Samir Nasri reacts with delight after putting Arsenal in front

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The sending off of City defender Dedryck Boyata in the fourth minute gave Roberto Mancini's side a massive uphill task and despite battling hard, the ten men were undone by a Gunners side enjoying a prosperous time at present.

Boyata received his marching orders after brining down Marouane Chamakh when he was clean through on goal and on 20 minutes, Arsenal finally found a way through - Nasri combining well with Andrei Arshavin before lifting the ball over Joe Hart.

Second-half goals from Song and Bendtner secured a third successive win for the Gunners, who climbed above City into second place in the Premier League and gained a measure of revenge for last season's 4-2 humbling at Eastlands.

Manchester United recorded their first away win of the season with a dramatic 2-1 victory at Stoke.

Summer signing Javier Hernandez scored twice as United put their previous woes on the road behind them and climbed up to third in the table.

Hernandez opened the scoring in the first half with an excellent headed finish, while United right-back Gary Neville was extremely fortunate to remain on the field, somehow escaping a second yellow card for a cynical challenge on Matthew Etherington.

Just as they had done in their previous three away games, United failed to hold onto their lead, as Stoke substitute Tuncay Sanli scored a fantastic individual effort to bring the home side level with just nine minutes remaining.

But United were not to be thwarted on their travels again, and Hernandez snatched a late winner four minutes from time.

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres ended his six-match goal drought with the winner against Blackburn to provide a much-needed boost at Anfield.

Goalkeeper Paul Robinson had kept the Reds at bay until Sotirios Kyrgiakos' 48th-minute header and although a Jamie Carragher own goal quickly levelled things up, Torres struck only his second of the season soon after.

It ended a run of seven matches without a victory in all competitions and although it was still not enough to lift Liverpool out of the bottom three the result came as a welcome relief.