City enjoyed a strong 3-0 win against 10-man West Brom on Saturday, putting them in higher spirits than they were left with on Wednesday night. However, Neil Swarbrick was left in hot water as he became the latest of a number of referees to send off the wrong player – although the red was justified.
Manuel Pellegrini made a number of changes going into the game, with Pablo Zabaleta coming back into the side for Bacary Sagna, and Clichy replacing the injured Kolarov. Fernandinho also found himself on the bench in place of Fernando, whilst injury-stricken Yaya Toure was replaced by Frank Lampard in the team. After changing the game in Catalonia in mid-week, Navas earned himself a starting berth ahead of Samir Nasri, whilst Wilfried Bony got a start ahead of James Milner.
It took just two minutes for the game to become controversial, due in part to Wilfried Bony, who found himself through on goal before being taken down by Craig Dawson for Albion. However, to the shock of many, the referee Neil Swarbrick showed the red card to the innocent Gareth McAuley. Whilst it’s not as embarrassing as Roger East’s mix-up of Wes Brown and John O’Shea, he may not get off easily for it.
From that point on, City controlled the game and opened the scoring on 27 minutes, again thanks to Wilfried Bony. From a corner, the ball was played back towards the half-way line, before eventually finding its way to Vincent Kompany on the edge of the area. His shot was blocked, but the ball fell to Bony, who took it on his chest before turning and hitting it past Boaz Myhill for his first in City colours – and it probably won’t be the last.
City’s second came nearly 15 minutes later, and marked a couple of big milestones. A corner was drifted in towards Kompany near the penalty spot and he was able to get a head on it – not a huge touch though – which left it to Jonas Olsson; the Swede, only just back from injury, was unable to clear it properly and it fell to Fernando to sidefoot into the bottom corner from 8 yards for his second City goal. It also marked The Blues’ 1000th goal in Premier League history, as well as bringing to an end a run of 266 straight corners without a goal, a run that stretched all the way back to the game at Arsenal in September.
From that goal, City always looked like holding onto the ball, despite Albion hitting the bar in the second half from Saido Berahino. The Blues also had chances that hit the woodwork, with Aguero and Bony hitting the post and the bar in the very same attack. However, City did find the net again to round off the win on 77 minutes, thanks to the introduction of Stevan Jovetic and a finish from David Silva. The Montenegrin sub found his way inside from the left, and took a shot which was heading wide, and his Spanish team-mate deflected it past Myhill to make it three and ensure the three points would be staying in Manchester.
After the disappointments we’ve had in recent weeks, it’s good to see a strong performance like this at a stage of the season where it is vital that we perform if we want to secure second place (or at the very least, Champions League qualification). This win will give The Blues confidence going into the last eight games of the season, knowing that we can perform when we want to.
