Yaya Toure spared Joe Hart's blushes with an 89th-minute penalty to give Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester City a hard-fought victory over Norwich City.
The Ciuty midfielder converted a late penalty after an error by Hart had allowed Cameron Jerome to equalise Nicolas Otamendi's opener.
Manchester City, who also missed a late second penalty taken by Aleksandar Kolarov, remain top on goal difference from Arsenal, who won 3-0 at Swansea City, while Norwich are two points above the relegation zone in 16th after a fourth consecutive league loss.
Kelechi Iheanacho was rewarded for a sparkling display in Wednesday's 5-1 Capital One Cup victory over Crystal Palace with a first Barclays Premier League start, while Fernandinho returned to the home midfield after serving a one-match suspension.
Youssouf Mulumbu made his BPL bow for Norwich, who began brightly at a ground where they endured a 7-0 defeat on their previous visit.
After John Ruddy had made a sharp 10th-minute save from Wilfried Bony, Alex Neil's side enjoyed a spell of pressure at the other end as Alex Tettey had a rasping shot blocked and Sebastien Bassong failed to connect with Matt Jarvis' searching cross.
Having scored 16 times in their previous three domestic home matches, Manuel Pellegrini's team struggled for their usual fluency and Bony crashed an effort wide from inside the area following promising link-up play with Iheanacho.
The Ivory Coast striker was again off target from 20 yards when teed up by Kevin De Bruyne in the 27th minute.
Hart kept out a rising Matt Jarvis drive before Ruddy excelled himself to claw Toure's free-kick out of the top corner.
Jarvis made way for Nathan Redmond because of injury at half-time and Bony was also in discomfort after a crunching Bassong tackle ended his latest sight of goal in the 53rd minute, with De Bruyne slicing wildly off target after the ball broke loose.
Pellegrini's side had little to show from patient build-up in open play but broke the deadlock midway through the second half when Otamendi powered home his first goal for the club from De Bruyne's outswinging corner.
Bony's fruitless quest to get on the scoresheet continued as he headed wide under pressure from Bassong, with De Bruyne again supplying the ammunition.
The former Swansea forward then saw an 80th-minute attempt deflected wide with Ruddy rooted to the spot as he sought to make the points safe.
Threeminutes later, Norwich were back on level terms. Hart spilt a cross from Jonathan Howson's to present Jerome with a tap-in.
City retook the lead after Ruddy sparked confusion in the Norwich box and Russell Martin was sent off for blocking Raheem Sterling's goalbound shot with his arm.
Toure held his nerve from 12 yards to beat the dive of Ruddy, who guessed correctly but was unable to stop the low, hard kick.
Hart then pushed Martin Olsson's deflected strike to safety, before Kolarov failed where Toure had succeeded.
0 comments:
Post a Comment