ASTON VILLA 0 - 1 MANCHESTER CITY
Tevez 45+1
Manchester City kept their faint title hopes alive on Monday night with a fairly lack-lustre victory over relegation contenders Aston Villa.
The home side started the game brightly, star man Benteke asserting his aerial ability in the box early on. City's inability to penetrate the Villains in the first 25 minutes illustrated the necessity of bringing in wide men in the summer.
More pain was heaped on the unfortunate Jack Rodwell, just after he'd recovered from a long standing hamstring injury. He limped off with an injury on 25 minutes, paving the way for top scorer Edin Dzeko. Dzeko's introduction changed the game and gave the Blues the opportunity to play off his strength and height up top.
It was Dzeko's determination that created City's opener as he capitalised on a mistake made by defender Ciaran Clarke. The Bosnian striker unselfishly squared to Carlos Tevez who calmy rounded the keeper and slotted into the corner of the net.
The rejuvinated Kolo Toure and Matija Nastasic ensured Villa were not able to snatch anything from the game with a rock-solid performance in the centre of defence.
Villa created a number of scares late on, but City were able to hold out and secure the victory. Mancini's men still sit 12 points behind leaders Manchester United and honestly, their performance did little to scare the Red Devils.
Player Ratings
Joe Hart 6
Can't remember him having a save to make, largely down to the performance of his centre-backs infront of him.
Pablo Zabaleta 7
Got up and down the wings well and had a tremendous left footed effort denied cruelly by the post.
Kolo Toure 8
Brilliant once again. Took his form from the Chelsea game straight into this clash and never struggled for pace or strength. He's doing all he can to make sure he stays at City and could even delay Kompany's come-back even further. Man of the Match.
Matija Nastasic 8
The 19 year old is fastly becoming one of the league's best and most reliable defenders. Forrmed an unlikely, but extremely effective, partnership with Kolo at the back which worked to perfection.
Gael Clichy 6
Not the Frenchman's best game. Lost the ball frequently and found himself chasing the game.
James Milner 7
City's February Player of the Month proved why he should be starting over Nasri once again. Solid performance once again, doing all he could to provide City with some width.
Javi Garcia 6
The Spaniard looks too slow to handle the demands of the Premier League and was rusty once again this evening.
Yaya Toure 6
Wasn't massively involved in the flow of the game but his presence is always an asset to City's game. Hit the post with a great effort in the second half.
Jack Rodwell 7
Started brightly and was City's main threat for 25 minutes. Picked up yet another injury which, unfortunately, could see him out for even longer.
David Silva 6
Like Yaya, Silva was fairly quiet.
Carlos Tevez 7
Another great performance from Carlos. Worked tremendously with Dzeko when the Bosnian came on and showed great composure with the goal.
Substitutes
Edin Dzeko 7
Great when he came on. Held up the ball brilliantly and showed an unfamiliar tenacity usually shown by his Argentinian colleagues. Assisted Tevez for the goal and had one of his own ruled offside.
Samir Nasri 6
Had one shot which he sliced wide but didn't affect the game in any way.
Gareth Barry - too late to mark
