Manchester City moved up to second and within two points of Chelsea on Saturday evening as a late surge at Villa Park gave The Blues a 2-0 win over Paul Lambert’s Aston Villa. It took over 80 minutes to break the Birmingham side down, but great strikes from Yaya Touré and Sergio Agüero eventually broke The Villans down on a competitive night in the Midlands.
The game heralded the return of Fernado to the squad after over a month out, with the Brazilian midfielder making the bench at Villa Park. He would have to wait to make his return to the pitch, but his second half introduction changed the game. It broke down Villa counter-attacks, meaning City were able to keep the pressure on in the final stages as their hosts started to tire.
Despite a lack of goals in the first half, it wasn’t for the lack of trying on the most part. Sergio Agüero looked sharp in attack, but it was James Milner who came close when he struck the post. In the left-hand side of the box, he volleyed the ball towards goal and it may well have gone in, had it not been for a deflection that turned it onto the post for a corner. Speaking of corners, the general quality to which we are attuned to was smashed out of the window late in the half. City had a string of late first-half corners, all of which could have resulted in a goal. A low ball played to Kolarov running in was quickly snuffed out after the Serbian controlled it, whilst Edin Džeko had a shot blocked almost on the line after good link-up play between David Silva and James Milner from a short corner.
Despite the attacking play so far, City were yet to really threaten Guzan’s goal, whilst Villa looked strong on the counter. The visitors had to come out fighting in the second half in order to not become complacent, and hit the post again within moments of the restart. Agüero was played through into a fantastic position, but he side-footed his shot against the post when everyone had already rose to their feet, expecting him to score. Immediately, Villa almost scored up the other end through Kieran Richardson on the counter-attack, but his touch let him down and City were able to get it away.
There’s times in games where certain players show their quality, and the second half was one of those times for the magician that is David Silva. He seemed to be everywhere for a long period in the second half, giving impetus to City to go on and eventually score the two winning goals. There were moments of great quality from the Spaniard, who looked at his mystical best on Saturday.
Yaya Touré also looked better, which will certainly make the manager happy after he garnered a lot of criticism over the last few weeks. His goal was the stuff of greats too, harking back to what we saw a huge amount of last season. It came after 82 minutes, after a lot of Blues had started to give up hope of a late winner, and you couldn’t have asked for much better. He picked it up some way from goal, before taking it a few yards to the edge of the box, and finally placing it in exquisite fashion past the diving hand of Brad Guzan – who was impressive all game – from 20 yards. The Ivorian’s first goal of the season, he will be pleased to have scored what could be a turning point in his season after a poor start.
Six minutes later, City made doubly sure of the victory through Sergio Agüero – again, another cracker and an easy goal of the month contender. James Milner, out on the right, played a low pass to Sergio on the edge of the box, who took a touch wide, before powerfully firing home from 18 yards. It left little chance for Brad Guzan to get to, and was a deserved winning goal against a team who did so well to hold off City for 80 minutes.
Whilst most of the players will now adjourn and meet up with their national teams, they will take confidence from this victory. There’s a tough run of games coming up after the international break, but it’s good to go into it on some semblance of form.
