Manchester City took a big step towards winning their first league title in 34-years after beating manchester United 1-o to move above local and title rivals at the top of the Premier League table on goal difference.
Vincent Kompany’s powerful header in added time at the end of the first half proved the difference between the two sides in a match which City needed to win to breathe new life into a championship challenge that seemed beyond them earlier this month when they trailed United by eight points.
United were really poor and City dominated the match with Sergio Agüero twice passing up chances to score before half-time, lashing a volley over the crossbar on 25 minutes and shooting wide ten minutes later following good approach play by Samir Nasri and Pablo Zabaleta.
Though City were almost caught out with a quickly taken corner that resulted in Park Ji-Sung’s skied effort, they took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Kompany rose unmarked to power David Silva’s corner past David De Gea.
The defending champions failed to muster a single shot on target throughout the encounter and might have fallen further behind when both Nasri and Yaya Touré, twice, fired wide after promising forays forward.
In the end, it was a dominating performance by City with Barry, Yaya Toure and Nasri totally dominating United’s midfield of Carrick, Scholes and Park. Park was a surprise starter for United, but Sir Alex Ferguson seemed to get his tactics wrong as he went with an ultra-defensive line-up that has no speed to counter attack.
City have two games left, away to Newcastle on Sunday and then hope to QPR. Roberto Mancini’s side knows that two victories will be enough to bring the title to the Ethiad.