Toure Hat Trick helps City title hopes

                                                                        

 MANCHESTER   CITY                 5   -   0      FULHAM 

Manchester City kept their Premier League title hopes on track with a 5-0 thrashing of ten-men Fulham at the Etihad Stadium, the game also Ivorian Midfielder Yaya Toure netting a hat trick for the Blues to see the Cottagers sink deeper into relegation trouble at the foot of the table.

With Chelsea handing out capital punishment to their fellow London rival Arsenal in the game early kick off, it was important that Man City kept the pressure up on the teams above them with and a great opportunity to do so in the shape of bottom of the table side Fulham.

The home side was missing the services of Captain Vincent Kompany for the game after the Belgian defender was sent off in the 2-0 win at Hull last weekend for the Blues.

It saw Manuel Pellegrini using the same centre back pairing that he used in the FA Cup defeat to Wigan Athletic a couple of weeks ago, as Joleon Lescott came into replace  Vincent Kompany and saw them play very well in the City defence.

City typically threatened throughout the match with the home side restricting the play of Fulham as they never gave them a sniff all game. The home side had a good shout for a penalty claim in the 11^th minute of the game, when a Samir Nasri corner was missed by Martin Demichelis  which saw the ball strike the arm of Steve Sidwell who had put his head down  and despite the blue shirts appealing to the referee over a penalty the claims were waved away and play continued on.

Sidwell was involved in another penalty claim by the home side after City was targeting the Fulham right and so when Alvaro Negredo mis-controlled the ball, it saw the Spaniard dashing to keep the ball in play with a great backheel that saw it stop dead.  From then Pablo Zabaleta put a little ball through towards James Milner just inside the area and as the City man turned, Sidwell then tackled his man without getting the ball and saw Sidwell get away with two incidents.

The game saw all the different types of weather Manchester could muster as it was going from one extreme to the other while play was ongoing. It wasn`t the first time a game played between the two at the Etihad Stadium had saw crazy weather, as last year saw play held up for a few minutes due to the snow flurries during the game and needed the groundsmen to shovel snow off the white lines so the players and officials knew where the penalty area was.

City had the first chance of the game through James Milner after Aleksander Kolarov`s cross was deflected away ,only as far as the England man and his driving effort saw Dean Stockdale push it away and his defender had to head it out for a corner.

In the 24^th minute James Milner put a ball deep into the penalty area for the chasing Negredo to chase down and it seen the striker take a boot to his lower back from Defender Fernando Amorebieta who made a poor challenge and saw the Fulham man booked and gave away a penalty to the home side as well.

Yaya Toure stepped up to take the penalty for City and saw him side foot home into the bottom left hand corner to beat past Stockdale for a 1-0 lead. Fulham then had a chance minutes later when Kieran Richardson beat Demichelis down the left side and put a little cross towards the back post where upon Sascha Riether header was wide of the target and saw the home side showing signs of vulnerability  at the back.

The Blues midfield then almost orchestrated a fantastic goal between them all which saw James Milner lead the attack, before Fernandinho took up the play and when a ball was meant to go to the far side it seen David Silva get on it and his lovely first touch took it away from the defender, before the Spanish wizard dinked it over the keeper  with Amorebieta was on hand to clear off the line and see Fulham let off.

Kolarov then smashed the bar with a fierce shot on target after Milner again was the creator of the move, Milner had done brilliantly to chest down a Fernandinho ball before he then laid it off to the Serbian defender and he let rip with side footed effort that shook the woodwork from the shot.

Second half saw a more ruthless Manchester City side come out to play and it wasn`t too long before they doubled their lead when the home side was awarded a second penalty in the match and in the process ,saw Amorebieta getting his marching orders for a second bookable offence to go along with conceding two penalties.

The penalty came from more sublime passing play by the home side, which saw Fernandinho`s pass to Milner backheeled into the path of David Silva and saw the defender take him out to give away another penalty.

A second spot kick to Toure saw a second goal for Toure, with the Ivory Coast International placing the ball in exactly the same place as the first one and put City lead 2-0 up and all but end Fulham`s hopes of getting back in the game.

Amorebieta shown red card   PIC: news168.com

It almost became shooting practice for the Blues from that point really, with the home side having a fair few efforts on goal but not hitting the target.  James Milner saw his shot blazed over after he tricked two Fulham players in the build up and seen the midfielder firing high and wide before Kolarov strike this time round was a poor one, with it going wide of the goals but you sensed a goal was coming soon.

When Yaya Toure scores goals they are normally stunners and so when the Ivorian received a pass from outside the Fulham penalty area which was close to 35 yards out, you felt it would take a special strike to go in from that range and it was. Samir Nasri had took a free kick that was played to Toure and the midfielder took a little touch before bending the ball round the defense to beat the keeper and go in for a 3-0 score with Yaya Toure`s  completing his HAT TRICK.

Aleksander Kolarov nearly made it four for City after his drive from outside the area was stopped well by Stockdale and needed his defender`s to help in clearing the danger away after a good save.

Both of City`s midfield dynamos was then substituted when Toure and Silva made way, with them both doing their jobs to perfection and got a standing ovation from the Etihad crowd as Pellegrini had his eye slightly turned to Tuesday night`s game in the Manchester Derby at Old Trafford.

Demichelis came close to increasing the score for the home side, after his flick on at the near post beat the keeper but was kicked off the line by the Fulham defender and seen the away side under the cosh a bit. Samir Nasri was then replaced by the fit again Montenegro striker in Stefan Jovetic and that saw Nasri given a standing ovation too with the Frenchman being saved for that big game too.

City eventually scored their fourth of the game through Brazilian Fernandinho, as the midfielder ran diagonally into the penalty area before unleashing a fierce shot that gave the goalkeeper no chance of stopping and seen the home side seal the win in the 83^rd minute of play.

Toure converts penalty :Pic: ITV.COM

Milner kept plugging away in his search of what would have been a very much deserved goal in the contest, but Stockdale was equal to his shot and seen him tip it away for a corner. The Blues added one more goal to score, when from that resulting corner saw Milner take it quickly and saw play go to the far side with Javi Garcia`s shot palmed away, only as far as Martin Demichelis who stuck a foot out and saw the ball run slowly over the line with the Argentine defender hold his arm up to celebrate before the ball had even gone in.

Demichelis adds 5th  Pic: TERRASPORTS

Alvaro Negredo then really should have made it 6-0 late on after that man again James Milner, used all of his trickery to get by the Fulham defence and put a ball into the area which was stopped by Steve Sidwell. Sidwell then tried to head it back to the goalie while on his hands and knees and which saw Negredo sneak in round the back to poke the ball between the two and watched it pass the post to see the Spaniard`s goal drought continue on. City keep up their recent good form and clean sheets to complete a very impressive display by the Blues to see them heading into the important game with neighbours Manchester United on Tuesday night full of confidence.