Man City 3 - 0 West Brom

Wilfried Bony’s first goal steers Manchester City to West Brom win

Man City 3 - 0 West Brom

Wilfried Bony 27
Francisco Fernando 40
David Silva 77


West Brom's Gareth McAuley is sent off by Neil Swarbrick against Man City in the Premier League

The good news for Manchester City is that the gap at the top of the Premier League table has now been cut to three points, at least for a few hours. Slightly less encouraging was that in 90 minutes of target practice against a side reduced to 10 men virtually from the outset and barely able to get out of their own half, City were unable to overtake Chelsea in the goal difference column. Come the end of the season, if Manuel Pellegrini is to be believed and the leaders are going to drop points, such details could be important.

City are not in a creative moment, according to their manager, who made seven changes to the side beaten in Barcelona in midweek. What you need in those circumstances are visitors like West Bromwich, who had actually taken a point more than City from league games in 2015 before this game kicked off, but lost a defender within 90 seconds of the match starting.

Gareth McAuley was the unlucky early departee, unlucky because he was not the culprit when Wilfried Bony was tripped on the edge of the area when City’s first attack set up a clear goalscoring opportunity. It was Craig Dawson who committed that foul, and though McAuley did arrive on the scene late the position of the free-kick indicated referee Neil Swarbrick had penalised the initial offence, then sent off the wrong player.

If that did not quite kill the contest it certainly dampened the atmosphere. It took City another 25 minutes to take the lead, with Frank Lampard shooting narrowly wide and David Silva bringing a flying save from Boaz Myhill while the game remained scoreless, but as soon as they did the outcome was not in any doubt. Fittingly it was Bony, who might have scored after a minute, who put the home side ahead with his first goal since his £25m transfer from Swansea. City moved the ball along the edge of the area searching for an opportunity until Fernando went for goal and saw his shot half-blocked. The ball went forward rather than back, and though it reached Bony at an awkward height the striker stayed onside, brought it down well and finished from the six-yard line with his usual vigour.

City’s attempts on goal moved beyond 20 before half-time, with West Brom allowing Joe Hart a complete rest after his midweek heroics by failing to register a single effort, on target or otherwise. Not all of the home side’s attacks were all that incisive, to tell the truth, it was more a case of shots from distance being blocked by a packed defence or saved by the goalkeeper, until the second goal arrived courtesy of a mix-up between Myhill and Jonas Olsson.

When Eliaquim Mangala sent in a hopeful shot from a Jesus Navas corner the goalkeeper appeared to have the loose ball covered once it had taken a deflection from a defender, only for Olsson to scoop it out of his arms at the last moment to present Fernando with a chance he could hardly miss. It was the sort of defending to keep a coach awake at night and Tony Pulis cut a disconsolate figure on the sideline in the minutes before the interval, gesturing to his assistants and kicking the ground in frustration.

Myhill kept the score respectable with two excellent saves from Silva and Sergio Agüero, before Lampard set him an easier task with an underhit shot after Silva had picked up his run with an excellent pass. By the time the hour came up City were finding ever more creative ways not to score. Agüero hit the post and Bony the bar on the same attack, before Navas crashed in a shot from a narrow angle to bring another fine save from the goalkeeper. That was something like City’s 36th attempt on goal, and the traffic was so one way that when West Brom finally won a corner after 65 minutes their supporters leapt to their feet in ironic celebration. Had Saido Berahino pulled a goal back shortly afterwards instead of heading against the bar from a corner the home side might have been seriously embarrassed at letting West Brom into the game; instead the chance was missed and Stevan Jovetic came on to make the margin of victory more flattering with a shot from the edge of the area that Silva managed to help into the net.

Guardian