Stoke City 1 - 4 Manchester CityStoke City: Peter Crouch 38
Manchester City: Sergio Aguero 33, James Milner 55, Sergio Aguero 70 Pen, Samir Nasri 76
This ended as an emphatic victory, a first triumph in the Premier League since New Year’s Day and at this venue for Manchester City, though the scoreline does not tell how the champions wobbled until pulling away when the underrated James Milner scored 10 minutes into the second half.City knew they must win to ensure no further ground was ceded to Chelsea. And with the leaders eventually defeating Everton, the champions closed the evening having maintained a deficit of seven points to at least let José Mourinho’s men know the title race is not yet a formality.
On the same day of last season, City had notched 21 goals more than the 47 accrued in the Premier League before the start of this match. While they had played one match more then than the current term’s 24, this striking deficit offered a big clue as to why Manuel Pellegrini’s men are struggling.
An embodiment of this was shown early on. David Silva was clear in the area and squared the ball to Sergio Agüero. The striker, who began the campaign in lethal mode, scuffed the shot and missed a chance to break a drought that had stretched back two months to 3 December when the last two of his 19 strikes were registered.
Having turned the champions over 1-0 at the Etihad in the reverse league fixture, Stoke had no doubt they could repeat the feat. Mark Hughes could hardly wait to mention how the club would be “gunning for our first double” in his pre-game notes, shoehorning this into the opening paragraph and the way his side pinned City back suggested this might be a matter of time only.
Agüero’s tentativeness before his goal spread throughout his colleagues. At the back Joe Hart had one of those moments he always seems capable of, spilling a fierce Victor Moses shot from distance nearly straight into his goal. Instead it went for a corner and from this Peter Crouch was allowed a free header by a static City defence, and Stoke appeared to have a good shout for a penalty as Milner’s arm connected with the ball.
If Lee Mason, the referee, was unsure, clearer was how the visitors were continuing the poor form of Saturday’s draw with Hull City. An Aleksandar Kolarov shot diced with a corner flag and Agüero had another unconvincing attempt, while at the other end Crouch had the ball in the City net but it was ruled offside.
Throughout this patchy period the visiting support sang “We know what we are, we’re the champions of England” and, finally, their team was about to perform like so. Agüero decided to cast off the doubt that was hampering him when he again took possession near Stoke’s goal. With a shoulder-drop the striker made space, then drilled a sweet finish beyond Asmir Begovic.
This felt unfair to Stoke, and justice was about to be served. Marko Arnautovic, the classy Austrian playmaker deployed by Hughes on the right, swung in a menacing cross and Crouch again could head unmarked, this time to beat Hart for the equaliser.
City had the look of an outfit fighting a relegation battle, not defending the Premier League crown. On the stroke of half-time Agüero might have had a second with a finish into the open goal, but his hand touched the ball, the strike was disallowed, and the 26-year-old was booked. It summed City up.
Fernandinho offered flashes of quality in the opening 45 minutes and another came at the second half’s start. The Brazilian’s clever pass split Stoke and allowed Kolarov to run it at Begovic, but there was no finish. The problem was that Fernandinho followed this with a clumsy ball that handed possession to Stoke in midfield, again illustrating City’s hesitancy. The sense for much of the time was that a match they had to win might just slip away completely.
But Milner, the saviour with the late, late equaliser against Hull, now stepped up, the midfielder’s emphatic header from a Samir Nasri delivery his fifth of the season.
City’s third came when Geoff Cameron fouled Silva in the area and from the penalty Agüero converted.Better came as Nasri belted home a peach of a finish from 20 yards to confirm a desperately needed three points.
Source: Guardian
