Man City 0 Arsenal 1: KEVIN Keegan challenged his players to play every game like this one.

The Blues boss began the game labelling Arsenal the best team in the world and ended it justifiably claiming City had matched them all the way.

Keegan must be as baffled as the City fans as to why his team only turns on the style against the top teams.

Last season they hammered Manchester United, beat Newcastle, drew with Liverpool and were outstanding in narrow defeats against top two Arsenal and Chelsea - and they almost went down.

This season looks like being a carbon copy unless Keegan can shake them out of their comfort zone when they meet the other 14 teams - like Everton who beat them comfortably last time out at Eastlands.

Keegan said: "If we had played like that against Everton it would have been more than enough to have got the three points.

"Every one of them gave everything they had, and more, and we were unlucky to lose.

"I asked them if they can be up for this game then why can't they be up for every game.

"It all came down to a lucky break and Arsenal got it when the ball bounced kindly for Ashley Cole to score."

The acid test will be whether City stick to these standards at Southampton next week or if they do their usual trick and sink back into their shells for one of the Premiership's routine matches.

City had heroes all over the pitch. Joey Barton was outstanding winning the ball and using it in the middle of the park where Paul Bosvelt had his best game in a blue shirt.

So did Sun Jihai in an unaccustomed left back role which he will surely keep ahead of Ben Thatcher. The defence as a whole was first class.

The fans also saw a new and much improved Antoine Sibierski while, after a quiet first half, Shaun Wright-Phillips ripped into the Arsenal defence in a superb second half City show.

But the leader of the pack was Nicholas Anelka who dominated Arsenal with skill, speed, control and what can only be described as an arrogance on the ball.

He knew he was better than anything on the opposition and he was not afraid to show it.

But, despite a catalogue of silky runs and shots, everything either flew just the wrong side of the post or into the arms of Jens Lehman.