After 38 games of
the Barclays Premier League the Champions have finally been confirmed and they
are Manchester City, but we have to say they have made very hard work of it, however
they thoroughly deserve it after their yearning for a title after 44 years
without one. At the start of the Premier League season all of the talk was on
the battle between the two Manchester clubs and with both teams spending big
surely these were the only 2 title contenders.
First match of the
Premier League for Manchester City was against newly promoted Swansea and boy
did Man City give us a treat. Man City romped home to win 4-0 with Sergio
Aguero scoring twice and assisting one goal on his home debut. This form was a
sign of things to come for Man City as they blew away Tottenham 5-1 at White
Hart Lane followed by a 3-0 win at home to Wigan. Results started to go Man
City’s way and after 8 matches Man City had won 7 and drawing 1 – this was at
Craven Cottage where Fulham recovered from 2-0 down to end the game 2-2.
However the first
big task was the Manchester derby at Old Trafford. Man City leading the way
with United on their tails knew that a win would put them several points clear
despite only being 9 games into the season. The game itself started brightly
and it was Mario Balotelli who opened the scoring with a neat right side foot
finish into the bottom right hand corner of De Gea’s goal which resulted in
Balotelli revealing a shirt with the words “Why Always Me?” printed on it in
relation to his out of work life. Into
the second half and Mario Balotelli made it 2-0 before United’s Johnny Evans
was sent off for a professional foul
which soon led to an onslaught by City. Sergio Aguero added a 3rd to the
already humiliated United but a brilliant finish from Darren Fletcher into the
top right corner made it 3-1. However this was a consolation as Man City went
on to win the game 6-1 with Dzeko scoring a brace and Silva scoring a neat
finish under De Gea’s body.
This was
demoralising for United fans but for Man City fans it was sheer jubilation. Man
City was now leading the Premiership followed by a distant Manchester United.
However Man City soon hit a run of bad form losing their captain and defensive
rock Kompany to suspension which made life difficult. His replacement was young
Stefan Savic who didn’t look the most confident of defenders and during this
period Man City picked up a lucky 3-2 win away from home to QPR and drawing 1-1
at Anfield despite losing Mario Balotelli as he had been sent off.
This really had a
huge impact on City and it was their 15th game when they finally tasted the
bitterness of defeat, losing 2-1 to Chelsea. However in this match Balotelli
scored early to give the away side the lead but a first half goal from Meireles
drew Chelsea level. Into the second half and Man City looked under pressure and
yet again were reduced to 10 men – Gael Clichy being punished for continuous
fouling. Chelsea piled on the pressure and they got a late on a penalty which was
awarded for handball. Surely enough Frank Lampard stepped up and blasted the
ball into the back of the net. A first slip up for City but they were still top
of the Premier League.
Man City were
scoring goals for fun and wasn’t until their away game with West Bromwich
Albion that they found it difficult to score. The game was full of chances and
Man City should have won it but the game finished 0-0 meaning West Brom were
the first team to stop Man City scoring this season. Yet again Man City felt
the constraints of being top of the Premier League and City cracked. In their
next game against Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland it was 0-0 until the 90th minute
when Ji Dong-Won rounded City goalkeeper Joe Hart to give Sunderland a last
minute winner.
Man City now didn’t
look the force they were at the start of the season but they grinded out
results at home to Liverpool and Tottenham to regain some of their composure.
Another factor that caused this lack of form during January was the fact both
Yaya and Kolo Toure were away on national duty for Ivory Coast who were competing
in the ‘African Cup of Nations’. Yaya Toure provided City with an attacking
threat and also power as he could dominate that central attacking role. However
he was sorely missed yet despite this Man City just about managed to get some
important results.
But yet again Man
City slipped up this time away at Everton after ex-Man United midfielder Darren
Gibson scored the only goal of a well fought out match. Man United’s form
however was impeccable as they were winning most of their games and closing the
gap on Premiership leaders Manchester City. This only added to the pressure
mounting on City’s shoulders and after a 1-0 loss to Swansea, a 3-3 draw with
Sunderland at home and a 1-0 away defeat at Arsenal put Manchester United in
the driving seats for the Premier League trophy as they were 8 points clear
with only 6 games to go.
With Man United
being so far in front this eased the pressure off City and surely enough this
showed in their 4-0 drubbing of West Brom at the Etihad Stadium. However Man
United slipped up away at Wigan losing 1-0 thanks to a superb curling effort
from Shaun Maloney. Could Man City close the gap? Many fans and pundits thought
not despite there was the crucial Manchester derby at the end of April.
Man City carried
on with their momentum beating Norwich at Carrow Road 6-1 with once AWOL
striker Carlos Tevez grabbing a hat-trick. In the game the partnership of
Aguero and Tevez looked brilliant and probably is the best strike partnership
in the Premier League so could Man City have won the league if Tevez hadn’t have
gone AWOL? Nobody will know but Tevez would have made an influence during the
tough games.
Next came a
difficult trip to nearly relegated Wolves and as Man United had drew 4-4 with
Everton at Old Trafford, Man City knew a win would put them 3 points behind
going into the Manchester Derby. It was a close game but a defence splitting
pace from Clichy found its way to Aguero who calmly slotted it into the back of
the net. Wolves pressed and pressed as they knew defeat meant relegation but
Tevez’s quick thinking from a debatable free kick found its way to Nasri who slotted
the ball into the corner of the net giving Man City the 3 points they needed
and condemning Wolves to relegation.
With the tension building ready for the
Manchester Derby both sets of fans knew the outcome of certain results. If Man
City won they had the upper hand, on the contrary if Man United won or drew the
title was virtually United’s. The game was very tense, fans nervous and also
the players showed signs of twitchiness but Man City started to play the ball
around and just before half-time a corner from David Silva was headed in by
captain marvel Vincent Kompany. The goal meant so much to fans but there was
still a second half to endure. The second half was cagey so Mancini brought on
defensive midfielder De Jong to help protect the lead they had and surely
enough he did. Man City held out to win the game 1-0 putting them top by virtue
of goal difference and doing the double over their rivals.
Despite the loss
Man United fans knew City had the tougher run in as City had to play in form
Newcastle and relegation battlers QPR, United’s fixtures on the other hand were
against Swansea and Sunderland who – with no disrespect – had nothing to play
for. City faced a tough challenge away
to Newcastle as they had to face the brilliant defence and world class attack
force Newcastle had. The first half was tightly contested but it wasn’t until
the second half that Mancini made the move to put Yaya Toure in the more
attacking role and surely enough his master plan worked. With 15 minutes to go
Yaya Toure linked up with Aguero before superbly curling the ball round Tim
Krul to make it 1-0. Newcastle now looked a little down but they tried to get
back into the match but a swift counter attack which ended up with the ball at
Yaya Toure’s feet who stroked the ball into the top of the net with his left
foot to make it 2-0 and secure the 3 points for City.
The title now
rested on the last day as United picked up 3 points at home to Swansea City. Man
City had to win or if they only gained a point they were relying on Sunderland
to either get a draw a beat United. Would Man City crack on the final day? News
came around that United had taken the lead against Sunderland and the fans knew
they needed a goal. All didn’t seem that way as City totally dominated QPR in
the first half but couldn’t apply the killing touch. Eventually their constant
attacks were rewarded with a goal from their Argentinean right back Zabaleta –
who incidentally got his first goal of the season and what a time to get it. The
fans knew they were inching closer to that elusive Premier League title. Into
the second half and a backward flicked on header from Joleon Lescott supposedly
aimed to Joe Hart found its way to Djibril Cisse who blasted the ball past Hart
to make it 1-1. News broke at Sunderland and the United fans were delirious but
there were still twists and turns to come but in United’s favour.
Man City pressed
and pressed but they couldn’t find a way through the QPR defence. Good news
though soon came as Joey Barton stupidly got himself sent off for kneeing
Carlos Tevez. Then we saw the real Joey Barton. After being sent off he kneed
Aguero in the back, head butted Kompany and squared up to Balotelli. Unfortunately
for Barton this may lead to a lengthy ban but for City they knew they had the
upper hand, or did they? A swift counter attack from QPR led to Jamie Mackie
heading in for QPR to make it 2-1. This news yet again made its way to
Sunderland and the United fans knew they were only minutes away from getting
that 20th title. Nevertheless the drama continued as Man City pressed but they
couldn’t find a goal. So they brought on misfiring Dzeko and bad-boy Balotelli.
These substitutions made an impact and in the 92nd minute from a Silva corner
Dzeko headed in the goal to make it 2-2 with only 3 minutes of the 5 minutes of
injury time remaining. By now the United game had finished and the fans were
just waiting for the result at the Etihad but this being Man City the drama of
the Premier League showed itself again. With less than 90 seconds left Aguero
made his way into the box skipping past a few defenders before powering a right
foot shot past Paddy Kenny making it 3-2 and securing the Premier League title
for City.
As this news of a winning
goal reached the United fans everyone including Sir Alex had a look of dismay
as the title was cruelly snatched away from them in the space of 5 minutes.
However if you want to win titles you have to battle for the results and City
definitely did that. Give Sir Alex credit though as he congratulated Man City
on winning the title but you could see the sadness in his eyes as to what had
happened on a dramatic final day.
After a 44 year
wait Man City finally gained a league title and they definitely deserved it but
they had to work for it. They were so far ahead and to be clawed back by Man
United showed the pressures of leading the Premier League. Then it was Man
United’s turn to falter as they let and 8 point lead slip and ended up losing
the title on goal difference but fair play to City to have the mentality to
come back and win the league. The words dynasty and shift of power are now
being thrown around and rightly so. For a team to be in the shadow of the power
that is Manchester United was harrowing for City fans but now with the backing
of money they can now show their rivals what they’re made of. Next season will
be another cracker and with City back in the Champion’s League they’ll be
looking for a better performance than this year’s showing.
So it’s certainly
been a terrific season in the Premier League and it has kept us gripped
throughout until the final day. Man City now have that elusive Premier League
trophy and it probably is the first of many. What Man City do now is enjoy the
moment before preparing for pre-season and surely another summer spending spree
to help them retain their title which will be difficult to say the least.
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