Manchester City vs Norwich City. Premier League.
Etihad StadiumAttendance53,418.
Saturday 31 October 2015 22:30, UK
Yaya Toure's late penalty bailed out Joe Hart and secured three points for Manchester City in a narrow 2-1 win over Norwich City at the Etihad Stadium.
Nicolas Otamendi opened the scoring for City in the 67th minute, before Hart's error allowed Cameron Jerome to tap home with seven minutes to play.
But there was late drama as Manchester City were awarded a penalty and Norwich captain Russell Martin sent off for handball and the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity in the 88th minute. That gave Toure the chance from the spot, and the Ivory Coast international made it nine successful penalties out of nine in the Premier League to put City ahead.
Manuel Pellegrini side's still had time to win, and miss, another penalty as Aleksandar Kolarov fired wide following Robbie Brady's trip on Raheem Sterling in the last minute of stoppage time.
The victory keeps Manchester City top of the table with 25 points from 11 games ahead of a trip to Sevilla in the Champions League next week, and the league leaders have now scored 22 goals from their last seven games. As for Norwich, the defeat makes it four straight in the Premier League, and they remain winless in the top flight since their 3-1 victory over Bournemouth in mid-September.
Alex Neil sprang a surprise with his tactics from the start, choosing to operate a back three of Martin, Sebastien Bassong and Ryan Bennett, with Brady and Martin Olsson as wing-backs, and the system worked well.
Having lost 7-0 on their previous visit to the Etihad Stadium, the plan was to keep it tight, and Manchester City were left frustrated by a disciplined Norwich display in a first-half that yielded just two clear cut chances - one to either side.
Bony miscued badly when set through by strike partner Kelechi Iheanacho, who was making his first Premier League start, while Matt Jarvis forced an excellent save from Hart after a quick counter-attack from the Canaries.
Cameron Jerome occupied Vincent Kompany and Otamendi as Norwich retained a threat on the break even while ceding possession, and Alexander Tettey and Youssouf Mulumbu did an effective job screening Kevin de Bruyne.
Bony twice fired wide of John Ruddy's left hand post, with his first chance a golden opportunity to break the deadlock 20 minutes in. Iheanacho nut-megged Martin in the build-up, and fed Bony, who cut inside onto his right foot before blazing wide.
A mazy run from Brady down the right-hand side led to Norwich's best opening - Jarvis latched on to the Ireland international's through ball and took it first time after splitting Kompany and Bacary Sagna, but Hart tipped over.
The game remained finely poised until Otamendi, La Liga's top scoring defender in his final season at Valencia, gave City the lead with a fantastic header mid-way through the second half.
Having defended so well, Norwich went to sleep from a corner and allowed the Argentina international to power past Ruddy from 12 yards.
The Canaries had grown in confidence prior to Otamendi's opener, and equalised on 84 minutes after a calamitous mistake from Hart. The England international misjudged Brady's deep cross, and dropped the ball at the feet of Jerome, leaving the Norwich striker the simplest of chances to level the score.
But the Premier League leaders struck back six minutes later, capitalising on a Ruddy error to make it three straight Premier League wins.
The Norwich keeper was left stranded after rushing out to clear his lines, and Fernando shifted the ball to Sterling, who swept towards an empty net, only for Martin to intervene with his elbow with the goal gaping.
Referee Bobby Madley pointed to the spot and sent off the Canaries skipper, who left the field with no complaint, allowing Toure to put City back in front with just injury time to play.
Olsson's deflected strike tested Hart in the final minutes of stoppage time as the Canaries pushed for a leveller, before a City break ended with Sterling winning a penalty following a foul by Brady.
But Kolarov, who stepped up after regular taker Toure was substituted late on, missed the target with the final kick of the game.
City travel to Spain in mid-week, before they return to Premier League action away to Aston Villa next Sunday, while Norwich will look to end their poor run of form when they welcome Swansea City to Carrow Road.
Soccer Saturday Verdict - Paul Merson
In the first 15 minutes they came out and dominated the game. They pushed Norwich back and Wilfried Bony missed a really good chance and lashed it wide.
Then they went off the boil and the longer the first half went on Norwich are in confidence and all of a sudden Matt Jarvis had a shot on the run which forced a good save from Joe Hart.
They came out for the second half and it was all Norwich. If they had a little bit more about them in the final third they could have scored a couple of goals. But City got a corner and what a header! I don't think you will see a better header this season than the one from Nicolas Otamendi, who was outstanding.
After that I thought it was all over but out of nothing Hart just dropped Robbie Brady's floated cross and there's Cameron Jerome, who just tapped it in. What a mistake it could have been. It looked like they had got a 1-1 draw out of nothing but Toure scored the penalty to make it 2-1.
Player ratings
Manchester City: Hart (4), Sagna (6), Kompany (6), Otamendi (7), Kolarov (5), Toure (6), Fernandinho (6), Navas (6), De Bruyne (6), Bony (6), Iheanacho (6)
Subs: Sterling (7), Fernando (6), Demichelis (6)
Norwich City: Ruddy (5), Bennett (6), Martin (6), Bassong (6), Brady (6), Mulumbu (6), Tettey (6), Olsson (6), Howson (6), Jarvis (6), Jerome (7)
Subs: O'Neil (6), Redmond (6), Grabban (6)
Man of the match: Nicolas Otamendi
