Title SERGE
Pellegrini is banking on players’ experience to keep City in the hunt
WHEN you want to banish the Premier League blues and get your title challenge back on track, there’s no better sight than seeing Aston Villa in the away dressing room.
So it proved at the Etihad Stadium where Manchester City somehow conspired not to score in the first 45 minutes against limited opposition yet still won at a canter.
Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and Yaya Toure all benefited from useful target practise to end a run of three league defeats and with Norwich City up next, manager Manuel Pellegrini won’t give up on a second Premier League title, even though Leicester, Spurs and Arsenal lie above them in the table.
‘I am sure we will be involved in the title until the end,’ he said bullishly. ‘Be absolutely sure we will play every game as a final. The margin of error is small but this team has the experience to do it. I think all the teams will lose points between now and the end of the season. The pressure is more, and our experience will be important.’
Sergio Aguero scored twice to take his goal tally to 10 in 10 games, but he will have walked off disappointed not to have added more. Twice he was denied by brilliant saves from Brad Guzan, though hitting the post with a penalty was his own fault.
Just as encouraging were improved performances from Toure and David Silva, whose combination play with Aguero for City’s third goal was world class.
Even Sterling, the scapegoat for Wednesday’s disappointing 3-0 defeat at Liverpool, looked lively when he came off the bench and his tap-in goal will have boosted confidence moving forward. It proved a valuable run-out for Pellegrini, whose decision not to make any changes at half-time was justified despite the frustration that was seeping through the stadium.
‘We didn’t play badly in the first half, we created chances against a team with nine players behind the ball,’ he said. ‘It was important to be patient. Of course there are also players who make the difference. Sergio makes the difference.’
Villa sometimes had more than nine men behind the ball. During one attack, all 11 of their players were inside their own penalty area. City had 78 per cent possession and the first half resembled a training drill in which all the action was condensed inside one half, Blues versus Yellows.
Yet City couldn’t score. Wilfried Bony was rusty and Aguero was denied by an outstanding tackle by Joleon Lescott and a brilliant tip-over by Guzan.
Villa’s only chance for Jordan Ayew was thwarted by Joe Hart but you could feel the anxiety, with groans at every misplaced Bony pass and recriminations between Bacary Sagna and Jesus Navas after one breakdown in communication.
‘I saw a good first half from my team,’ said Villa manager Remi Garde. ‘We had a plan to not concede as long as we could.’
Alas, it fell apart as City scored twice in the opening five minutes of the second half. Their ‘Big Three’ combined for the 48th-minute opener, Aguero and Silva teeing up Yaya Toure who finished with a neat low finish from the edge of the box.
The second followed a couple of minutes later. Aguero chased a pass from Bony and got lucky as a clearance from Micah Richards hit him on the leg and went in. It was a rough way for Richards to return to City on his 200th Premier League appearance.
If Aguero’s first goal was fortunate, the second was brilliant. He played a one-two with Silva, controlled the ball on his chest and thumped it left-footed past Guzan.
It was the signal for Sterling to replace Bony. After 66 minutes, the winger tapped in number four after three Villa defenders had failed to cut out a cross by Navas.
The only surprise was Aguero failing to complete a hat-trick, hitting the post with a penalty after Ciaran Clark had rashly fouled Kelechi Iheanacho.
Pellegrini added: ‘We depend on other teams losing points but this was an important win, and impor- tant to score goals. We always try to be an offensive team.’
Garde is also reliant on other teams losing if his side are to pull off an unlikely great escape. Villa have taken only 12 points from 17 games under the Frenchman’s control but the teams above them are also in miserable form.
‘I am not in the habit of waiting for good news from direct rivals but we are still in the race,’ he said. ‘It is difficult because we start at the bottom of the small league we are playing in with three or four others teams.
‘It will be difficult, but everything is mathematically possible.’
Villa are still to face Swansea City, Bournemouth and Newcastle United. Whether the Premier League wants to have them around next season when there is such an obvious lack of quality is another matter.