Manchester City 6 Arsenal 3: Vincent Kompany calls for his side to address away form after they rout Gunners' at home

City came away comfortable winners to make it eight wins out of eight at home and Kompany feels they can rise to the top if they start winning away from the Etihad

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany wants his side to address their away form after stretching home run to eight wins out of eight (GETTY IMAGES)

Captain Vincent Kompany wants Manchester City to improve their away form after they showed their home prowess with a remarkable 6-3 Barclays Premier League win over leaders Arsenal.

The prolific strikeforce of Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo were again on target while Fernandinho struck twice and David Silva and Yaya Toure also got on the scoresheet.

Theo Walcott marked his first start since September with two fine goals to keep Arsenal in contention but Per Mertesacker's late header was mere consolation for a side ultimately well beaten.

City closed to within three points of the Gunners following the thumping win which took their home tally to 35 goals in eight games this season.

"I think at home we have proven that we are an incredibly tough team to beat and we can score goals of course," Kompany told BT Sport 1.

"It was a great game for the fans and it was just end-to-end and at times the tempo was frightening.

"We looked to be in control of the game for the most part of it and there were a lot of stand-out performances obviously from our team but collectively I think we've done incredibly well."

He added: "The biggest message is if we win the next game which is Fulham away.

"Those are the games that are very difficult for us. Home games we'd like to challenge anyone and like you see today it is a real fortress here."

The only major downside for Manuel Pellegrini's men was the loss of Aguero early in the second half with what appeared to be a calf injury, and the boss confirmed the problem will need to be assessed.

"Sergio Aguero, we will see him with the doctor, maybe he has some problem with his calf but I don't know at the moment how many weeks," he said.

Pellegrini echoed Kompany's call for improved away performances but insisted he will not move away from his footballing philosophy.

"Unfortunately, we don't get good results in some games we play away," he said. "In the Champions League we won the three games we played away so we are finding our style of play and I will not change in that sense.

"We are going to continue in the same way.

"I am pretty sure that if we continue in this way we will improve and then at then end of the year we will see which is the best team."

He added: "We are three points behind (Arsenal). We must continue working and improving because we have a lot more things to improve."

And, while City fans may be delighted with a six-goal hammering of a title rival, the Chilean was wary that his side had conceded three against a Gunners side that never hit top gear.

"I'm very pleased in one sense," he added. "It's not easy to score six goals against Arsenal, the best defence in the Premier League, the best team this year.

"We scored six goals and we missed four or five clear chances also to score more goals.

"But to concede three goals is too much for this team to have control of the ball.

"I didn't think that Arsenal had so many chances to score. In that sense I am always worried to try to improve."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger felt his team were mentally fatigued following their games against Everton last weekend and Napoli on Wednesday but stressed that did not justify the nature of their defeat.

"The concentration level we had given on Sunday and Wednesday night we had not completely recovered," he said.

"It hurts to lose like that but we made too many mistakes today in the middle of the park.

"I feel as well that three wrong offside decisions today from the referee did not go very well for us.

"Overall they deserved the win. We have to go home and recover and come back for the next time. We made too many technical mistakes today."

He added: "It's for sure that our schedule is not ideal. Is that the only explanation? I'm not sure."

Mesut Ozil walked straight off the pitch at the final whistle without applauding the visiting fans, prompting a spat with team-mate Per Mertesacker, but Wenger refused to be drawn on the clash between the German duo.

"We want to win and we are very sad tonight because we lost a big game," he said.

PA