The Sunday News
THREE WEEKS after trailing Chelsea by nine points, Manchester City have caught Jose Mourinho’s men with only the latter’s superior goal difference keeping them ahead in a championship race that is warming up nicely.
On 29 November Chelsea stood on 33 points and City 24 in what seemed a moment when the west London club might gallop off into the distance with this season’s crown, albeit that they had played a game more. Instead, as predicted by Manuel Pellegrini in that Cool-Hand Luke managerial style of his, City have reeled in Chelsea, though Monday evening’s visit to Stoke City is a game in hand that could re-establish a three-point margin. As with their campaign thus far, this was a contest that the champions grew into and by the close, when James Milner raced upfield to set up Yaya Toure for his fifth strike in eight games – the finish pin-balling off the right post – City had a third, and were coasting.
Before this James McArthur appeared to have a goal wrongly disallowed for offside, which if it had stood could have given City a nervy final few minutes.
This left Neil Warnock furious and it is understood that after the game he asked for permission to talk to Phil Dowd, the referee inviting him into his office to discuss the decision. “It is two yards onside. It is a disgraceful decision,” the Crystal Palace manager said. “It is hard enough to score at the Etihad without goals being chalked off without a reason. I wish I was still working in the media so I could say what I want without getting fined. They have to get decisions like that right. My players deserve that. It is so disappointing.”
With no Sergio Agüero, Edin Dzeko or Stevan Jovetic, Pellegrini decided to fill the frontline striker void with Milner. Would he be a false No9 or would the City No7 be a traditional centre-forward? The answer seemed to be the latter, though as with all modern attacking players Milner drifted in and out of midfield pockets. – The Guardian
