Arsenal cruise past battling Sky Blues

Coventry City suffered a heavy midweek defeat for the second week in a row but, in contrast to their debacle at Shrewsbury, the Sky Blues will walk away from Wednesday night's game at Arsenal with pride in their battling performance.

The Gunners were held at bay for nearly 40 minutes in North London before the big names chosen by Arsene Wenger for a rare League Cup outing came to the fore and did the job their manager had expected of them.

Summer signing Olivier Giroud, England internationals Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott and Russian star Andrey Arshavin scored, with Giroud also seeing a penalty saved by Joe Murphy. Callum Ball then netted a consolation, prompting Miquel to immediately strike the home side's fifth. Walcott made it six with minutes left.

New City boss Mark Robins will have left the Emirates Stadium with plenty of positives to take from his side's organisation and energy levels in the face of far superior opposition, as well as the backing they received from 8,000 visiting supporters. City`s cut of a 58,000+ gate will also come in very handy.

Three points from Saturday`s trip to Oldham Athletic, however, remains the priority.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.