Match Report – City vs Spurs

Manchester City 2 Tottenham 1

Manchester City FC v Villarreal CF - UEFA Champions League

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Edin Dzeko lived up to his super-sub billing by firing Manchester City to victory against Tottenham.

Dzeko struck three minutes from time to complete a defiant second-half comeback from the unbeaten Blues, who closed the gap on Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester United to two points.

It was the Bosnian’s seventh goal of the season, six of which have come from the bench, after Sergio Aguero had cancelled out Steven Caulker’s first-half header. It also extended City’s unbeaten home Premier League record to an incredible 35, and their present unbeaten league run to 16, adding weight to manager Roberto Mancini’s pre-match dismissal of any sense of crisis at the Etihad Stadium.

…A straightforward free-kick delivered from the touchline by Tom Huddlestone found Caulker, who had been given too much room to make his run. The header should still have been stopped. This time, goalkeeper Joe Hart, so often City’s saviour, only managed to shovel it in.

…This might not have been so bad if City had been awarded at least one of the two penalties they were adamant should have come their way before the break.William Gallas was the first offender. And whilst he did block Aguero’s flick at close quarters, his arm was extended in a manner that, in the modern game, tends to result in an infringement.On the second occasion, Pablo Zabaleta was bulldozed over by Huddlestone. That referee Michael Oliver declined both merely intensified City ire against the official, with Zabaleta and the returning David Silva among the more demonstrative home players.

…The introduction of Maicon for his belated home debut offered an extra twist given it put him up against Gareth Bale, who famously terrorised the Brazilian during his Inter Milan days.It also triggered a return to the much-derided three-man defence.Yet Mancini’s rejig worked.

…On a day when little seemed to be going right for the hosts, they profited from a couple of fortunate bounces, allowing Yaya Toure to get on the end of Silva’s pass, then Aguero to collect possession inside the Spurs box.Caulker got a quick lesson in how swiftly the Argentinian can turn as he found himself heading in completely the wrong direction as Aguero dispatched his precise shot into the bottom corner.…Tottenham were creaking though. And when Silva found Dzeko in the box three minutes from time, the Bosnian kept his nerve to complete another memorable comeback.

Read the entire report “Manchester City 2 Tottenham 1: Aguero and Dzeko strikes spares Hart’s blushes after howler”