Late first-half goals by Pablo Zabaleta and Yaya Toure saw Manchester City beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing.
Arsenal could have opened the scoring when Theo Walcott and Carl Jenkinson came close – but City punished Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge minutes before the break.
Yaya created the first when he spotted Zabaleta’s overlapping run, and the Argentine finished emphatically into the far corner.
With Arsenal still reeling, City struck again when Yaya steered in from close range after Aleksandar Kolarov had exposed the Arsenal defence with a strong run and cross.
With torrential rain making conditions difficult in the second half Arsenal began to dominate, and substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came closest to scoring – striking both posts with a ferocious strike.
But that is as close as Arsenal came, with City holding out for a comfortable win.