Manchester City piled more pressure on bottom club Portsmouth with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Eastlands.
Adebayor and Kompany on target in 2-0 home win
Manchester City bounced back from their Carling Cup disappointment and piled more pressure on bottom club Portsmouth with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Eastlands.
Roberto Mancini's side made a sluggish start, while Pompey looked dangerous and almost took the lead when Anthony Vanden Borre hit the crossbar with a deflected shot in the 36th minute.
Portsmouth were made to pay four minutes later when Emmanuel Adebayor, on his first start since returning from compassionate leave, controlled a long ball from Stephen Ireland and finished with aplomb.
Vincent Kompany then headed home a Martin Petrov corner on the stroke of half-time and Pompey rarely threatened to get back into the game after the interval.
The hosts enjoyed most of the possession and Carlos Tevez struck the post late on, as City cruised through to full-time to move within one point of fourth-placed Tottenham.
Early chances
It has been another difficult week for Pompey but they started well and were the better side for 39 minutes.
Taking advantage of City's unusual lethargy, the visitors carved out two fine chances.
John Utaka, one of the few survivors from that 2008 FA Cup final win, was presented with the first but leaned back too far when he got on the end of Danny Webber's cross and scooped his shot over.
Webber and Utaka were also heavily involved in the move that ended with Kompany deflecting Vanden Borre's shot onto his own bar.
Ireland may only be a slight figure but he had the strength to hold off Webber and stop the former Watford man tapping Portsmouth in front.
Problems are all relative of course. Yes, it is not nice to see such a proud old club suffering an implosion that seems destined to end in administration.
But, compared to what Adebayor has been through, it really is irrelevant. The last act of Togo's African Nations Cup was to be banned for two tournaments on Saturday.
Given their recent experience, they are probably quite glad even if the decision itself is almost impossible to comprehend.
Anyone with an ounce of compassion could have understood what was going through Adebayor's mind after he crashed his 40th-minute shot past David James.
Breakthrough
Latching onto Ireland's lofted pass, his marker Marc Wilson appealing in vain for offside, Adebayor acted as though he no longer knew how to celebrate, an acknowledgement to the heavens at the start of the second half told its own story.
Kompany effectively wrapped up victory in stoppage time. At City's previous corner, the Belgian had complained of being impeded by Tal Ben Haim. Having gained no response from referee Martin Atkinson, Kompany took matters into his own hands, simply shrugging the Israeli aside as they ran to meet Petrov's corner, before powering home his first goal of the season.
Portsmouth continued to work hard after the break, which, like manager Avram Grant, is a testament to their professionalism.
Webber might have breathed fresh life into the contest when he tried to turn home the loose ball after Shay Given had saved from Angelos Basinas.
Unfortunately, the striker missed his kick and fell over. Now Grant lurches on towards deadline day, six points adrift of the survival waterline, having no real idea what players he is going to be left with at 5pm.
| Manchester City |
Team Statistics |
Portsmouth |
| 2 |
Goals |
0 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 5 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 6 |
Shots off Target |
8 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 10 |
Corners |
7 |
| 9 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
5 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 82.4 |
Passing Success |
78 |
| 18 |
Tackles |
13 |
| 77.8 |
Tackles Success |
92.3 |
| 55.9 |
Possession |
44.1 |
| 49.2 |
Territorial Advantage |
50.8 |
|
