June 2012. During Arsenal's pre-season campaign ahead of the 2008–09 season, Clichy captained the team for the first time in its 2–1 win over Barnet. He remained a fixture within the starting eleven during the season despite the emergence of youngster Kieran Gibbs. On 1 November 2008, Clichy scored his first professional goal in a 2–1 defeat to Stoke City. After consistently appearing with the team for the majority of the campaign, in April 2009, Clichy began missing matches due to an unspecified injury. After being sidelined for several weeks, it was announced in early May that the defender would miss the remainder of the 2008–09 season due to a back injury. Similar to his foot injury three seasons ago, during the high note of the 2009–10 season, Clichy's back injury relapse after it was revealed that the player suffered a stress fracture of the lower back in the team's 3–0 win over North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Despite being initially ruled out for a month, Clichy missed ten weeks and returned to the team in January 2010. He appeared in all of the club's remaining matches excluding one. A healthy Clichy started the 2010–11 campaign as the starting left-back domestically and internationally for the first time. On 30 October, he assisted on the only goal scored by Alex Song in the team's league win over West Ham. Clichy scored his second career goal on 2 March 2011 in the team's 5–0 win over Leyton Orient in a FA Cup replay tie. Altogether Clichy made a sum of 264 appearances and scored twice for Arsenal. Manchester City On 4 July 2011, it was confirmed that Manchester City had completed the signing of Clichy from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £7 million, on a four-year deal. Clichy made his first appearance for City on the club's US Tour. He then made his first competitive appearance against Manchester United in the 2011 FA Community Shield and his first Premier League appearance against Swansea City. He was sent off during a league game against Chelsea for picking up a second yellow card for a challenge on Ramires. Clichy established himself as first choice left-back after beginning the season as backup to Aleksandar Kolarov. On 13 May 2012, the final day of the Premier League season, Clichy started and played the full 90 minutes against Queens Park Rangers at the