Manchester City all but end Villa’s Champions League hopes after a comeback win against the Claret and Blues.
Roberto Mancini’s men came from a goal down to beat Aston Villa 3-1 in a fiercely contested affair at Eastlands on Saturday.
John Carew opened the scoring for Villa, but then goals from the three Man City strikers – Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor and Craig Bellamy swung the tie in favour of the home side.
Martin Fulop, who was signed as an emergency goalkeeper from Sunderland for the injured Shay Given, was a mere spectator early on, as City dominated. But out of nothing whatsoever, the Villans took the lead in the 16th minute. Following a City attack, they broke at lightning pace and Stewart Downing slipped the ball through to Carew, who got there ahead of Kolo Toure and slipped his shot through the centre-half’s legs. Fulop, who conceded 7 at Stamford Bridge on his last Premier League start, managed to get a hand to it, but could not prevent it from going in.
City looked for an immediate response, and had a penalty shout, when Tevez’s shot hit Stephen Warnock on the arm, but the linesman only pointed for a corner.
Brad Friedel also made some important saves to keep Villa ahead.
At the other end, James Milner tested Fulop with a long-range effort, but this time, the Hungarian was up to the task.
Downing then tried his luck from distance, but his well-struck shot went wide.
Referee Mark Clattenburg then once again denied Tevez a penalty when the Argentinean went down under Carlos Cuellar’s challenge.
In the 41st minute, City did get their spot-kick. Warnock’s rash tackle on Adam Johnson left ref Clattenburg with no alternative than to point to the spot.
Tevez stepped up and blasted his penalty down the middle, leaving Friedel with no chance.
Straight from the kick-off after the City goal, Villa almost went ahead again, when Carew hit the crossbar from an improbable angle.
From the same passage of play, City broke at the other end. Patrick Vieira played a brilliant through-ball to Johnson, who had the presence of mind to pick Adebayor and the Togolese tapped in to make it 2-1.
The away side were the much better team early on in the second half, with Ashley Young and Carew both being denied by brilliant saves from Fulop.
Then, City started to dominate, but neither side could find much of an opening. City went close through Bellamy, but Friedel pulled another magnificent save to deny the Welshman by tipping over his curling effort.
Martin O’Neil made his intentions clear with a double attacking substitution, bringing on Emile Heskey and Nathan Delfouneso for Stephen Warnock and John Carew respectively.
It was City though, who got their killer third in the last minute, when Wright-Phillips set up Bellamy, who curled an absolute beauty into the top corner to wrap up the points for the Blues.
With Tottenham also winning against Bolton, the midweek match at the City of Manchester Stadium is sure to be the one which decides who finishes fourth and who does not.
Aston Villa are now three points of the pace, and have played a game more. Liverpool are five points adrift of Tottenham, and anything but win against Chelsea will extinguish all their hopes of Champions League football.
Source: Manchester City 3-1 Aston Vvilla: Post-Match Review
Source: Football Blog – Football News
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