Football Update: Barclays Premier League- Manchester city vs. Fulham
Fulham went head on with Manchester City on Sunday at Craven Cottage, London. Previously City won two of the last three meetings with Fulham. Manchester City grabbed a much needed victory and the final tally was 4-1 in City’s favour. This win concluded Roberto
Mancini’s team at the fourth place, with 25 points, in the league only one point behind Arsenal. Owners are content with City’s season so far.
Manchester City came into the match craving for a goal, as their last two encounters were goalless. Argentinean striker Carlos Tevez dragged City out of the ditch with 2 goals and some beautiful football.
City proved they meant business right away. Carlos Tevez went past Carlos Salcido at the edge of area which resulted in a low shot which could not be defended by Mark Schwarzer. City found an early lead at the brink of the 6th minute. It turned
out to be a lead City never gave up. Despite the early setback, Fulham remained calm and collected and gained some momentum in barter of unforced City errors.
City nearly piled onto their lead with a second goal in the 22nd minute. A free kick inside City’s area resulted in a counter-attack, as Aleksandar Kolarov rushed with the ball intending to score. However, Aleksandar Kolarov lost the one-on-one
battle with Mark Schwarzer, failing to make a permanent mark.
City finally doubled their lead. Following a corner City fullback Pablo Zabaleta tamed an unstoppable strike leaving City two goals up. The frenzy did not end yet, shortly after Yaya Toure charged from an empty right side of Fulhams area and his shot slipped
into the net beating Mark Schwarzer.
In the 43rd minute, Simon Davies was able to produce a header from a cross from the right side, failing to intimidate City goalkeeper Joe Hart, who collected the ball with ease.
As the second half went under way, Fulham’s manager Mark Hughes replaced Damien Duff with Zoltan Gera intending to put some pressure on City’s defence. The move fulfilled its intentions adding to Fulham’s attacks.
Fulhams goalkeeper absorbed another strike from Tevez later on. This halt was short lived as Tevez delivered a clever back heel on the shot of Pablo Zabaleta putting Man City four goals ahead. In the ending half of the second-half, Mancini brought in Milner,
Vieira and Johnson in place of Silva, Barry and Tevez respectively.
After a cushion of four goals, Man City started to loosen up a little. Fulham scrambled their consolation goal in the 70th minute from Gera. Zoltan Gera found himself with the ball at the brink of penalty area, from a corner, and took a shot which
deflected off Clint Dempsey and found the net. It was a goal that City gave away with ease after ensuring their win.
Carlos Tevez dominated throughout. After suffering from injuries the Argentinean striker is cementing on his form being the lead goal scorer for City.
In the post-match reaction, Roberto Mancini expressed that he was pleased with his team. He said, “All the players were fantastic”
Mark Hughes was concerned and justified that "Obviously we lost a little bit of belief after the initial first goal. The one thing you don't want to do is concede early.”
"That happened, unfortunately, and then we needed to kick on, obviously we needed to be more aggressive and get up to people. But unfortunately we allowed them too much time and space in which to create.”
Carlos Tevez dominated throughout. After suffering from injuries the Argentinean striker is cementing on his form being the lead goal scorer for City. Manchester City seems to have a good season conclusion heading their way, if they continue to perform like
this.
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