Tevez brilliance saves City

Super ... Carlos Tevez's gem was the highlight for Manchester City. Source: Jon Super / AP

A piece of individual magic from Carlos Tevez handed Manchester City a 1-0 win against Wigan in a dress rehearsal for next month's FA Cup final.

Franco Di Santo and Arouna Kone missed good chances for the Latics who remain in the relegation zone and three points from safety.

The first half was rather low key as both sides returned to league action after their emotionally and physically-draining semi-final victories last weekend.

Wigan started confidently, stroking the ball around neatly but without great penetration. They won two corners inside the first four minutes, but failed to capitalise.

Aleksandar Kolarov flashed his free-kick wide before Sergio Aguero shot across goal and failed to win a free-kick outside the area, but other than that there was little activity of note in the opening 30 minutes.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	33	26	3	4	40	81
2	Man City	32	20	8	4	31	68
3	Chelsea	32	18	7	7	31	61
4	Arsenal	33	17	9	7	29	60
5	Tottenham	32	17	7	8	15	58
6	Everton	33	14	14	5	14	56
7	Liverpool	33	13	11	9	19	50
8	West Brom	32	13	5	14	-1	44
9	Swansea	32	10	11	11	1	41
10	Fulham	33	10	10	13	-7	40
11	West Ham	33	10	9	14	-9	39
12	Southampton	33	9	11	13	-7	38
13	Newcastle	33	10	6	17	-17	36
14	Norwich	33	7	14	12	-21	35
15	Sunderland	33	8	10	15	-8	34
16	Stoke	33	7	13	13	-13	34
17	Aston Villa	33	8	10	15	-24	34
18	Wigan	32	8	7	17	-21	31
19	QPR	33	4	12	17	-25	24
20	Reading	33	5	9	19	-27	24

There then followed a flurry of activity as Wigan produced a sparkling move with Kone bursting forward and Shaun Maloney backheeling into the path of Di Santo.

The Argentinian did brilliantly to jink round two defenders and open his body to shoot but Hart parried low to his left. City raced upfield in response but Aguero failed to get a touch on Tevez's dangerous low cross.

City survived a couple of scares soon after the restart as first Maloney wrongfooted Micah Richards and beat Hart with a shot from a tight angle only for Joleon Lescott to clear off the line.

Wigan appeared to go close again when Paul Scharner headed against the bar from a free-kick but the flag had been raised for offside.

After that near miss, heartbreak followed for Wigan as Tevez struck a typically sublime winner. The Argentinian turned away from two defenders on the edge of the area and jinked past a third before curling a shot into the top corner.

It was his eighth goal in nine games and left Wigan in the bottom three as one of their valuable games in hand had slipped away.

City, meanwhile, cut Manchester United's lead at the top to 13 points, and now the side's must do it all again at Wembley next month.

Read more: http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/284611/report

View the original article here

Tevez keeps City's hopes alive

Too good ... Manchester City account for Aston Villa. Source: Paul Ellis / AFP

Manchester City maintained their slim hopes of retaining the Premier League title with a 1-0 win at Aston Villa.

But Carlos Tevez's winning goal in first-half stoppage time means Villa remain in the relegation zone and in danger of being relegated for the first time since 1987.

The home side began brightly and dominated the early stages with Christian Benteke seeing a header cleared off the line by Tevez just after the 20-minute mark.

Jack Rodwell had a left-footed effort at the other end that Brad Guzan tipped over but the former Everton midfielder injured himself in shooting and was replaced by Edin Dzeko.

The arrival of the Bosnian striker perked up a sluggish City and the visitors began to take control of the game with Pablo Zabaleta denied by a combination of Guzan and post in the 37th minute.

The impressive Guzan then saved well from both Tevez and Dzeko as Roberto Mancini's men piled on the pressure with Villa's confidence beginning to drain.

And it was a defensive error from Ciaran Clark that brought the opening goal as he attempted to turn past Dzeko despite being the last man.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	28	23	2	3	37	71
2	Man City	28	17	8	3	27	59
3	Tottenham	28	16	6	6	16	54
4	Chelsea	28	15	7	6	26	52
5	Arsenal	28	13	8	7	21	47
6	Everton	28	11	12	5	9	45
7	Liverpool	28	11	9	8	19	42
8	Swansea	28	10	10	8	5	40
9	West Brom	28	12	4	12	1	40
10	Fulham	28	8	9	11	-5	33
11	Stoke	28	7	12	9	-7	33
12	West Ham	28	9	6	13	-9	33
13	Norwich	28	7	11	10	-18	32
14	Sunderland	28	7	9	12	-7	30
15	Newcastle	28	8	6	14	-11	30
16	Southampton	28	6	9	13	-12	27
17	Wigan	28	6	6	16	-22	24
18	Aston Villa	28	5	9	14	-27	24
19	Reading	28	5	8	15	-20	23
20	QPR	28	3	11	14	-23	20

The Villa skipper claimed he had been fouled and while there was contact it seemed that he was already on his way down having lost his footing.

Dzeko was able to run through unchallenged before squaring the ball to Tevez who showed great composure to round Guzan before slotting the ball into the net.

Tevez had the chance to double the lead early in the second half but Matthew Lowton was able to clear his effort off the line as Villa became a little ragged in search of an equaliser.

As Villa battled, City showed the greater incision and the visitors had an effort disallowed for offside when Dzeko tucked the ball home after Guzan had tipped Yaya Toure's shot onto the post.

And Mancini's men were able to negotiate the final stages to reduce the gap on leaders Manchester United to 12 points - while leaving Villa supporters fearing the worst.

Read more: http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/281851/report

View the original article here