Manchester City: Citizens battle back for 2-1 victory at Watford
By Larry Henry
In their first game of 2016, Manchester City were looking to start the new year on a winning note. Manuel Pellegrini‘s team did just that, as they defeated Watford 2-1 in dramatic fashion at Vicarage Road.
The scoring didn’t get underway until the 55th minute as Watford’s Ben Watson hammered a corner-kick cross into the box that deflected off of City defender Aleksandar Kolarov‘s head and into the City goal for a 1-0 lead for the home side.
City, who were sluggish to say the least throughout the first half had to step up their game after going down 1-0. It wasn’t until the 82nd minute that they tied the game at 1-1, when Yaya Toure‘s volley off of Kolarov’s corner kick found the back of the net.
The tying goal sparked Manchester City to get a winning goal and it didn’t take long for that to happen. Bacary Sagna‘s cross in the 84th minute found the head of Sergio Aguero who headed the cross to the right-side of the net to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.
It was Aguero’s final contribution to the match as he was shortly subbed off for center-back Martin Demichelis. City defended for the final six minutes including an additional four minutes of second-half stoppage time. At the final whistle, Manchester City had their first victory of the new year, and their first road victory in the Barclays Premier League since September 12th.
Manchester City had 52% of the possession, in comparison to Watford’s 48%. They were able to create 16 shots, but only made Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes make three saves in the match. City goalkeeper Joe Hart had three saves on the day out of 11 total chances by Watford.
According to BBC Sport, Manuel Pellegrini praised his team’s character in his post-match interview by saying his team “has a lot of character and they never give up.”
Manchester City will look to continue their “never-say-die” attitude throughout a busy January month. They play Everton on Wednesday in the first leg of their Capital One Cup semifinal, before traveling to Norwich City on Saturday for a F.A. Cup Third Round match-up. Their next match in the Barclays Premier League will be on January 16th, at home vs Crystal Palace.
Sadly, Pellegrini’s squad will be without Captain Vincent Kompany for at least a month after he re-aggravated a calf injury he had problems with earlier in the season. Kompany re-injured his calf in a match with Sunderland on Boxing Day after he came on as a second-half substitution.
Look for Eliaquim Mangala, Nicolas Otamendi, and Demichelis all to rotate at centerback.
After the win, Manchester City will stay at third in the BPL table with 39 points and cannot fall down pending Tottenham‘s result on Sunday. They are one-point behind Leicester City for second place, after their 0-0 draw vs Bournemouth. Look for Pellegrini’s men to build on this result following their matches in other competitions.