Soon to depart Robbie Keane started in support of Darren Bent alongside Emile Heskey in the absence of the injured Gabriel Agbonhalor, with Sunderland man Craig Gardner’s brother Gary formed the midfield duo alongside skipper Stiliyan Petrov. Carlos Cuellar was brought into the eleven at the expense of Stephen Warnock, with James Collins and former Citizen Richard Dunne forming the regular centre-half pairing for the hosts.
Vincent Kompany was brought back into the City lineup after missing the league leaders’ win against Fulham last weekend, the Belgian replacing Stefan Savic in the visitors’ backline. Aleksandar Kolarov and Pablo Zabaleta got games as well, with regulars Gael Clichy and Micah Richards rested. Nigel de Jong pipped Samir Nasri to a place in midfield alongside former Villan Gareth Barry, while David Silva and Adam Johnson formed the supply line for frontman Sergio Aguero.
The hosts escaped a possible early deficit three minutes in when Shay Given smartly parried away Aguero’s shot, this after the Argentine was fed the ball inside the box by David Silva. City dominated possession as expected in the early stages, and Silva himself had a crack at goal after cutting in from the right flank, again to be denied by Given.
Aguero, playing as the lone striker in the absence of Edin Dzeko, displayed great skill to move into space just before the half hour mark and dinked the ball over Given, unfortunately unable to find any of his teammates inside the area. Adam Johnson came even closer to giving the visitors the lead moments later, seeing a trademark strike from the edge of the area bounce back off the foot of the upright.
City were rather dominant in terms of chances and Aguero had one last chance to give the Citizens the lead before the break, but couldn’t connect cleanly with his shot after Johnson’s cutback reached the striker. The hosts left Villa Park the happier of the two teams, managing to keep favourites City quiet for the first 45.
Much like the first period, City started quite brightly when the second half got underway and came close to the opener through skipper Vincent Kompany, who saw his header cleared away by James Collins. His central defensive partner Joleon Lescott came agonisingly close soon afterwards, heading Silva’s wicked delivery narrowly wide of the Villa goal when he could have done better.
City were cranking up the tempo and it seemed like a matter of time when Roberto Mancini’s men would find the net, Pablo Zabaleta seeing his fierce attempt from a foray down the right flank parried away by Given. The goal finally did arrive three minutes after the hour mark, as Gareth Barry headed a corner from the far post back across goal, and Lescott was on hand to finish from point-blank range.
City bossed the possession and had the lion’s share of chances following the goal as well, with a penalty claim from the visitors ignored by the referee after the ball seemed to hit Alan Hutton’s hand.
Villa surprisingly were showing a lack of desire to push for an equaliser, looking like succumbing to a defeat without posing much of a fight. Carlos Cuellar however was afforded a free header two minutes from time, one which he could not keep down and on target.
Joe Hart, a bystander for almost the whole of the game, sprung into life in the first minute of added time and saved a decent goal-bound effort from Darren Bent. The hosts however showed a drastic lack of imagination and kept thumping longballs forward in the hope of a miracle, each of which were dealt with confidently by the miserly City backline. The whistle soon came to end Villa’s limp challenge, as City recorded their 11th clean sheet of the season and climbed back to the top of the table with the three points.
Up next for Manchester City is their adventure in the Europa League where they take on a very competent FC Porto side on Thursday. Their early exit from the FA Cup though means that they will have the weekend off.
Teams:
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1) – Given, Hutton, Cuellar, Dunne (Baker 90′), Collins, Petrov, Gardner, Albrighton (Ireland 78′), Keane, Heskey (N’Zogbia 69′), Bent
Manchester City (4-2-3-1) – Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, De Jong, Barry, A Johnson (Nasri 85′), Silva (Richards 90′), Milner, Aguero (Dzeko 89′)
Final Scoreline:•Aston Villa 0 – 1 Manchester City (Lescott 63′)
(TheSportsCampus)
