Manchester City keep Wigan Athletic rooted at the bottom of the Premier League table
Relegation battling Wigan Athletic travelled to the City of Manchester Stadium to take on Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City on Saturday, 5 March, 2011 in an important clash for both the teams.
City came out to be a better team on the night after Wigan’s goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi made a horror mistake that could prove out to be very costly in the outcome of the Latics season.
The home side had http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Kolo-c21278 Toure suspended after the Ivorian was banned following a failed drug test while the Spanish midfielder David Silva started the game after missing out on City’s last Premier League game against Fulham. The visitors on the other hand
had http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hugo-Rodallega-c16414 played the role of a lone striker.
City got off to a decent start as it was expected and they enjoyed some early ball possession. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gareth-Barry-c14423 and Silva kept on applying continuous pressure upon the visitors but the result seemed hard to come by due to some determined defending by Wigan.
City’s midfield was again looking to feed their goalscoring machine Carlos Tevez but the tactics did not pay off as the visitors kept on surviving the scare. The ball seemed to have stuck to City’s feet as Wigan were just left to be mere spectators.
Pressure kept on piling up for the Latics as first Tevez and then Silva came miraculously close to scoring but somehow could not finish to their liking. Roberto Martinez’s men got their only chance of the first half in the 31st minute when James
McCarthy fired his shot wide.
The Citizens’ pressure finally paid off in the 38th minute when a shot from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Silva-c10601 awfully went underneath Al-Habsi’s leg as City went 1-0 ahead. No real chances came after that as the first half ended on a positive note for the home side.
The second half produced not much drama and the only promising opportunity shockingly went Wigan’s way when an Antolin Alcaraz shot hit the up right as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Joe-Hart-c18699 was left stranded in the 51st minute mark.
The Latics grew in confidence but were unable to find that important equaliser as City’s defence proved strong enough for Martinez’s men. Most of the game was played in the midfield as City were also not able to make a meaningful move in the second half.
Wigan tried their best to find the equaliser but were rather scrappy on the day and did not manage to score until the final whistle.
The result meant that Wigan remain at the bottom of the table with 27 points while City stay third with 53 points, just 4 behind the second placed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429.
Wigan will take on Birmingham City in their next Premier League game on Saturday, 19 March while Manchester City will travel away to take on Dynamo Kyiv in their UEFA Europa League game on Thursday, 10 March.
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