Man City 1 Brentford 0
After a disappointing draw against Chelsea on the weekend, Pep Guardiola’s side knew the importance of victory when they welcomed Brentford to The Etihad. Involved in a three-horse race for the title, dropping points is not an option.
It was in fact the visitors who created the first opportunity as they broke with Wissa who played an inch-perfect pass into the path of Onyeka. He made a bee-line for the goal and managed to get a shot away before the defender closed him down but it was straight at Ederson.
The visitors then had a free kick some five yards outside the box. It was rolled to one side for Toney to strike and his dipping shot just went over the crossbar with the Man City keeper scrambling across his goal to try and cover it.
Rodri clipped a sublime pass over the defence and found the run of Walker. He headed it across goal and picked out Bernardo Silva but he headed well wide. The Portuguese playmaker is not known for his heading and you could see why.
Credit: @BrentfordFC
One thing with Pep’s side, they are confident they can get goals from all over the pitch. Akanji picked the ball up outside the box and left fly, with Flekken having to make a fingertip save to prevent his effort dipping under the bar.
The atmosphere at The Etihad was quite mooted, like a stirring crowd waiting for the main act to appear on stage. It seems a strange thing that, despite all their success, they have not managed ever to create a cauldron of noise at home that strikes fear into the opposition.
Rodri continued to pull the strings in the middle of the park and picked out Ruben Dias at the back post who kept his header down into the bottom corner but against the Brentford keeper made a good stop, this time with his feet.
Stones then played the ball into the penalty area and it was half cleared by the visitors. Bobb ran onto it, dummied a shot and side-stepped the defender. The youngster looked to pass the ball into the net but Mee made a fantastic clearance off the line to keep the scores level.
Thomas Frank’s side were doing well to keep the champions out but this is proving to be a reoccurring theme at home for City. Part of this points back to the lack of passion in the stands, seeming like they had just heard of Oasis splitting up.
The Bees were looking capable on the counter-attack and as a cross was swung into the box, Onyeka met it with a header, needing a sprawling save from Ederson. Guardiola must have been concerned that they were open to being hit with a sucker punch as Pochettino’s side did last time out.
Credit: @ManCity
Ironically it was the breakdown of a Brentford attack that saw Man City punish them on the break. Alvarez spotted the run of Haaland, he navigated his way passed the last defender and slotted a shot into the bottom corner of the goal to break the deadlock.
Finally there was noise from the home end as the goal came that they had feared was never coming. With just under twenty minutes of the game remaining, Guardiola’s side had moved one-step closer to a much-needed three points.
Foden then picked the ball up in the middle of the park and went on a mazy run. Nobody could get anywhere near him as he headed towards the goal, went around the keeper and looked to slot the ball home. Flekken did well to get a block on the shot as it nestled in the side-netting.
It was a hard-fought win for Man City but all that mattered was that they had moved to within a point of league leaders Liverpool. The mark of a good team is being able to grind out wins when things are maybe not flowing as you would like them to.
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