A heavily-rotated Manchester City side came from behind to beat a resilient West Brom 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini made five changes to the side that earned an impressive 2-2 draw with French champions Paris Saint-Germain in midweek in preparation for the second leg of that Champions League quarter-final tie.
Sergio Aguero converted a penalty and Samir Nasri slotted home to cancel out Stephane Sessegnon’s unexpected opener.
Having started positively, a James McClean cross found its way to Sessegnon on the edge of the box, who beat Aleksandar Kolarov before firing past a stationary Joe Hart in the City net.
Just over 10 minutes later, the exact opposite happened.
Kolarov’s run down the left-hand side led to him being clipped by Sessegnon inside the box and winning the Sky Blues a penalty, which was neatly converted by Aguero.
Shortly after the equaliser, Salomon Rondon was forced off of the pitch with an injury and was replaced by central midfielder Craig Gardner.
Kolarov continued to look dangerous with his attacking presence, opening up space and struck a fearsome shot just over the crossbar.
Despite what was described as a poor performance by Sky Sports pundits, Wilfried Bony earned himself a synchronised applause from the home support after some impressive hold-up play.
For the remainder of the first half, City applied pressure but Tony Pulis’ organised West Brom outfit made themselves hard to break down.
The substitutions on the hour mark made all of the difference to the outcome of the match. Yaya Toure and Kevin De Bruyne came on in place of Fabian Delph and Wilfried Bony respectively.
Within minutes of the changes, De Bruyne broke away down the right flank before some scrappy play inside the box saw the ball fall to Nasri, who slotted home at the back post.
Toure and De Bruyne added positivity to the team before the Baggies began to mount pressure on the hosts.
The last 15 minutes was a good defensive performance by City, having to constantly nullify the threat of the West Brom attack.
City fans sang until the final whistle but will go home concerned by the fact that Aguero limped off of the pitch in the last few minutes of regulation time to be replaced by Gael Clichy and is now a doubt for the aforementioned clash with PSG on Tuesday.
