City closed the gap on Chelsea to five points after capitalising on their draw at Stamford Bridge, with an exciting 5-0 thrashing of Newcastle United at the Etihad on Saturday.
Yaya Touré was back in the City side having returned from African Cup of Nations duty. Yaya’s new teammate Wilfried Bony was also back from the AFCON, but didn’t make his debut from the start for City, having to settle for a place on the bench to begin with, with Džeko starting up front instead of the Ivorian, and performing well alongside Agüero.
The game couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for City, and they had the lead within 74 seconds of the kick-off, thanks to the star striker Sergio Agüero. City put early pressure on Newcastle, with Džeko winning the ball high up the field before being taken down for a penalty in the first minute. After some protesting from Newcastle players, Agüero stepped up to side-foot past Tim Krul a little after the one-minute mark to give City an important early lead.
Ten minutes later, City were able to double their lead through Samir Nasri. The Frenchman took a cross from the left to feet, before taking it past one Newcastle player before curling it into the top corner with an exquisite finish that most midfielders would have been delighted with.
The fun didn’t stop there however, with City getting another goal less than ten minutes after Nasri’s – this time through Edin Džeko, who seems to have taken heed of the arrival of Wilfried Bony, and looked to have stepped up his game a notch against The Magpies. Silva played a long ball into the box, which Edin was able to take down on his chest with his first touch, before hitting it home with his left foot on his second, past a helpless Krul in net.
It remained that way for the rest of the first half, with City unable to get any more goals, but that wouldn’t be true for much of the second half, with Silva netting a quick double within minutes of the restart to extend the lead to five and send City fans crazy. The first came via some good attacking play involving Samir Nasri and Sergio Agüero on the counter, with the Frenchman eventually setting up Silva to place the ball in the bottom corner after Fabricio Coloccini had been unable to prevent the ball reaching the Spaniard’s grasp on 51 minutes. The fifth and final goal came just two minutes later, when a long ball found its way to Agüero just inside the area, and he was able to chest it down to Silva to rifle home first-time into the far corner, past the diving Tim Krul.
Although City would try, they weren’t able to extend their lead to any further than five, and the highlight of the remainder of the game was seeing the debut of Wilfried Bony, who got half an hour as a substitute and showed glimpses of what was to come, even if there was no tangible effect on the scoreline.
This win could turn out to be a very important one over the coming weeks. Barcelona visit Manchester in mid-week, and with the La Liga side having lost at home to Malaga on Saturday, City will certainly feel more confident about getting something from that game. Had they gone into Tuesday with another loss or a draw, spirits at Eastlands would undoubtedly be much lower. The win, coupled with Chelsea’s draw, also breeds hope that City can still challenge for the title, and maybe it isn’t done and dusted after all.
