NORWICH CITY 3, MANCHESTER CITY 4
Ten-man Manchester City held on for a 4-3 win after over six minutes of added time at the end of an absorbing Barclays Premier League contest at Carrow Road.
There was controversy over a contested red card for City midfielder Samir Nasri after he was sent off for apparently angrily attempting to head-butt Sebastian Bassong after he followed through on a tackle.
City boss Roberto Mancini was a relieved man after City managed to win against their hard working hosts and was convinced that City should not have had a man sent off.
“We couldn’t lose a game here today after our first 25 minutes.” declared the Italian who was delighted with his side’s start.
“It was more difficult after the sending off – I couldn’t understand it.
“Samir made a mistake and I am disappointed for him.” said Mancini of the sending off incident.
“It was only a yellow card for Samir.” declared Mancini who was convinced that he had been harshly punished. “He moved his head towards their player but so did he.”
“It could have cost us today but we have a strong team. If we have the same attitude for the rest of the season we could have a chance to win the league.” concluded Mancini.
City front loaded their attack with extra height with Edin Dzeko partnering Sergio Aguero after Carlos Tevez was unwell this week and looked for a reaction after their Boxing Day defeat against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
City raced into an early 2-0 lead courtesy with a Dzeko brace within four minutes. Anthony Pilkington pulled one back after just 15 minutes after his shot took a deflection off Gael Clichy before Samir Nasri was controversially sent off just before half time.
Sergio Aguero put more daylight between 10-man City and their hosts with a superb chip over Norwich ‘keeper Mark Bunn just after half time to make it 3-1.
Russell Martin kept Norwich in touch after he headed home unmarked from Bassong’s flick on on 63 minutes before Dzeko’s shot came back off the post before unfortunately going back into the net off Bunn for an own goal.
Norwich pushed themselves back into the game with a second goal for Martin after he poached Bradley Johnson’s shot to make the score 4-3 to City with just a quarter of an hour to go.
Aguero could have finished off Norwich late on after being put through by Yaya Toure but City had to hold on after Norwich threw the kitchen sink at their visitors in an effort to grab an equaliser.