Against all odds, Manchester City proved its edge over Norwich in a thrilling match at Carrow Road on Saturday. Man City has lost its last EPL clash with Sunderland on Boxing Day, and everywhere, there were rumors that City is going to lose its second consecutive match for the first time this season, but against all the odds, City’s army made it sure that they will remain their position intact along with their points difference from leading Manchester City. In the first half, City has to bear a setback when its midfielder Samir Nasri has been sent off by the referee by showing a red card in the 44th minute, City was leading with 2-1 by then. Blues had to complete rest of the match with ten players. Despite, City never lost its grip over the match; perhaps they fired two smashing goals within first four minutes of the match. Both of them were scored by Edin Dzeko’s quick brace. Norwich did not lose much time to half the deficit when Anthony Pilkington’s free kick opened the account for the Canaries.
By the half time, City had lost its one player for rest of the match and it was leading by 2-1, and right in the beginning of the second half, Sergio Aguero’s neat flick again scored another edge over Norwich raising their lead to 3-1. By that time, Chris Hughton’s guys were warmed up, and Russell Martin’s header condensed the deficit for Norwich again. Dzeko put City back on the threshold of a grandstand finish when he settled the final score to 4-3. Norwich, despite its ten consecutive wins this season, has now lost three successive matches. Good news for them is they have defeated top position holder Manchester United in their unbeaten run; hence they can score more points with equal number of wins by other clubs.
City boss Roberto Mancini said after the match, “Both players came forward with their heads, so if you are going to send off one, then you have to send off both, not only Samir. Samir said he touched his head, okay, but the other player has done the same. The linesman has a big responsibility also, because it was not a good decision, it is incredible. You want to send off both players? Then, okay, the referee was there, he saw everything. The linesman was behind, he could not see.”
City also decided to appeal against Mancini’s three match ban over his remarks over referee after last defeat against Sunderland.