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The race for the English Premier League title has reached a
critical stage as the Sunday results have put Manchester City within 3 points
of their cross-city rivals Manchester United.
The two teams will square off this Monday at the Ethiad
Stadium in a matchup that will likely determine this season’s EPL champion. Manchester City hold the important 6 goal
advantage in goal differential, which will give them the title should City and
United finish level on points.
Manchester United
vs. Everton
This new excitement in the Premier League race comes after
Everton fought back from a two goal deficit to earn their hard won point. Nikica Jelavic made his mark on the game
early, after having a couple early opportunities; he made the most of Tony
Hibbert’s cross and floated his header over David De Gea and into the net. After conceding the early goal, United were
eager to draw level again and Paul Scholes nearly had a deflected effort end up
in the net, but good positioning from Tim Howard prevented the equalizer.
Despite their best efforts to go into the half level, the
Everton defense faltered and allowed Wayne Rooney enough space to find the goal
with a 41st minute header with the assist coming from Nani. Just a couple short minutes later, the
halftime whistle blew and both sides headed to the dressing rooms level at 1.
The second half deluge of goals began with Danny Welbeck,
who after a scramble outside of the penalty area, maneuvered his way into space
and fired a shot past Tim Howard for the go ahead goal. Manchester United added to their lead just
three minutes later thanks to some fantastic passing that ended with Nani
slotting home the finish. At this point
in the match, Manchester United looked to be in the clear with a 3-1 lead.
Everton immediately responded to the third United goal, with
a one of their own. Marouane Fellaini fired a first time shot off of another
Tony Hibbert cross and suddenly with the score 3-2 the match was tightly
contested again. Just after the restart,
United again found themselves in a
dangerous position, but Steven Pienaar’s attempt was stopped by De Gea, giving
United a moment to breathe.
United chose to press forward rather than defend their lead
and in the 69th minute Wayne Rooney added to his earlier tally
thanks to a brilliant run of play ending with Rooney’s finish from a very nice
Welbeck assist. In that frantic stretch
of play lasting 13 minutes, the fans saw 4 goals with Manchester United
increased their lead to 4-2. Their
continued aggression was almost rewarded, but Evra’s header only met the goal
post, which would be critical given what was about to come.
In the 81st minute, a failed clearance from Rio
Ferdinand and Jonny Evans fell to the feet of Nikica Jelavic, who pounced on
the opportunity and added his second goal of the game. Everton was far from giving up hope and their
continued fight was rewarded when Phil Neville, Fellaini and Pienaar linked up
to create the equalizing goal. It was a
beautiful passing display truly worthy of such an important goal, and gave
David Moyes’ side the result they were seeking.
As Manchester United returned to the center circle dejected,
the match was not over yet as in the 5th minute of stoppage time,
Rio Ferdinand forced Tim Howard to make a save on what would a have been the
winning goal. Despite their best
efforts, a win was not in the cards for either team and the draw meant the door
had been left over for Manchester City who was taking on Wolves later that
afternoon.
Manchester City
vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers
After learning of their cross town rivals result, City gave
an appropriate response by immediately seeking a win in the early moments. Carlos Tevez’ set the tone with his first
attempt on goal coming just 17 seconds after the opening kick. Both teams exchanged chanced in the opening
minutes with a Sergio Aguero effort trickling just wide of the goal and David
Davis forcing a nice save from Joe Hart.
The best opportunity of the opening minutes fell to Samir Nasri, but the
Frenchman wasted it by putting a shot wide.
Sergio Aguero managed to recover from an earlier opportunity
he had scuffed wide by making the most of a beautiful through ball from Gael
Clichy to open up the scoring for Manchester City. It was a stumbling finish from the league’s
third leading scorer and a well-earned goal by City that gave them the early
lead.
Manchester City looked good value for their lead throughout
the match with Wolves’ best effort, a header from Steven Fletcher, being turned
away by Joe Hart. A wasted corner from
Wolves, led to a break which saw Carlos Tevez pulled down and City awarded a
free kick. The kick was quickly taken
and the ball returned to Tevez who set up Samir Nasri who was open in space and
finished it past backup Wolves keeper Dorus De Vries.
Manchester City squandered a handful of opportunities
throughout the game, including a late miss from Sergio Aguero, but 2-0 was
enough to give them the 3 points they so desperately desired. Their win over Wolves sets the stage for what
will surely be a derby day to remember on Saturday. With so much on the line including the
Premier League title, the matchup between these two clubs is eagerly
anticipated by all.
The stage has been set, but controversy now revolves around
Yaya Toure, whose gesture shortly before halftime could earn a suspension. More on that later in the week though.
Notes:
In an attempt to expand our audience Full Time Football
articles will now be appearing on The Substitution: http://thesubstitution.tumblr.com
Pienaar gets the background today for his timely equalizer.
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