Arsenal end torrid week with crashing defeat

LONDON, England (AP) -- Arsenal crashed to a 3-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester City, deepening the crisis at the club after captain William Gallas was dropped for revealing infighting and bemoaning the squad's lack of fight.

The Gunners' fifth league defeat of the season completed a week to forget for the London club, who are now 10 points behind joint leaders Chelsea and Liverpool at the top of the table.

Manager Arsene Wenger's call to his young Arsenal stars to show their strength went unheeded at the City of Manchester stadium, with the team looking uneasy after Gallas' explosive outbursts in an Associated Press interview earlier in the week.

Stephen Ireland put City ahead on the stroke of half-time, exploiting confusion in an Arsenal defense stripped of Gallas, whose future with the club now seems in jeopardy.

Gael Clichy and Mikael Silvestre collided as City striker Benjani Mwaruwari released Ireland to clip the ball over Manuel Almunia, who was made Arsenal captain for the afternoon.

Arsenal fell further behind in the 56th minute when Brazilian forward Robinho lobbed Almunia after latching onto Shaun Wright-Phillips' throughball to score his ninth goal since joining City from Real Madrid.

Daniel Sturridge compounded a miserable afternoon for Wenger in the 90th minute by sending Almunia the wrong way with a penalty after the 19-year-old striker had been fouled by Johan Djourou.

"We fought very hard and gave everything," said Wenger -- who refused to answer questions about Gallas' omission from the side.

"I still believe in this squad. We are united and will work together to turn things around."

City manager Mark Hughes said: "We were excellent from start to finish and made sure that Arsenal didn't get into their passing tempo. When you play one of the top teams, you have to play well -- we did that and created plenty of chances."