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Monday, September 17, 2007

Man City 1-0 Aston Villa

































Manchester City1 - 0Aston Villa
48'Michael Johnson1 - 0

10

Manchester City maintained their 100% home record under Sven-Goran Eriksson with a 1-0 win over Aston Villa at Eastlands.

Teenage midfielder Michael Johnson was the matchwinner with a well-taken goal in the 48th minute, just as he had been in the single-goal victory over Derby.

Villa fought hard in a frenetic match but were unable to create one real clear chance as City climbed up to second in the early Premier League standings. City switched Croatian defender Vedran Corluka from right-back to centre-half to cover for the suspended Richard Dunne.

Nedum Onuoha replaced Corluka in the wide position while Darius Vassell came in to play wide midfield with Stephen Ireland, who controversially withdrew from the Republic of Ireland squad for the game against the Czech Republic in midweek, not in the squad. Rolando Bianchi was left out, with Emile Mpenza brought into Eriksson's team to play on his own up front, with Elano dropping deep.

Villa were unchanged from the team which beat Chelsea last time out, with John Carew overcoming a groin injury to retain his place. Loan signing Curtis Davies had to be content with a place on the bench.

Villa threatened first after six minutes when Carew got away from Javier Garrido down the right and cut inside, but his shot was blocked by Corluka.

The Croat went close for City three minutes later when he was allowed to advance deep into Villa territory unchallenged and his powerful right-foot shot flew wide.

Barry had started well for Villa and his high hanging cross from the left was fumbled by Kasper Schmeichel but luckily for City the chances twice fell to Olof Mellberg, who fluffed both opportunities that came his way.

City were generally having the best of it though and Vassell came close with a glancing header from a Martin Petrov free-kick in the 17th minute.

Johnson should have scored for City two minutes later when he charged down a Martin Laursen clearance and was released into the box by Elano, but Scott Carson came out well to to parry his shot, which he took on his favoured right foot when the left looked a better option.

Brazil midfielder Elano then cleared the danger at the other end after Carew had headed Barry's corner goalwards.

Gabriel Agbonlahor then came close for Villa when Wilfred Bouma's long ball fell into his path. He rounded Schmeichel but found the angle too tight.

City took the lead in the 48th minute. Johnson and Elano exchanged passes in central midfield before the 19-year-old jinked past Laursen, burst into the box and fired a low right-foot shot past Carson and into the corner for his second of the season.

There was a scare within four minutes though as Bouma's left-wing cross was met by Carew ahead of his marker, but he nodded wide.

A corner was then scrambled away with Schmeichel not looking convincing when dealing with set-pieces.

Mpenza sliced a shot wide after a forward burst by Petrov, but Villa were not out of it and Corluka's alertness prevented a goal at the other end in the 58th minute as he slid in to clear with Agbonlahor poised.

The England Under-21 striker then headed wide Ashley Young's cross to the far post from the left as the hour mark passed.

Sun Jihai came on for Vassell in the 65th minute while a minute later Shaun Maloney replaced Carew for the visitors as the rain began to teem down in typical Manchester fashion.

Luke Moore had a goal disallowed for pushing with 17 minutes to go as the luck again favoured City.

Moore was booked for fouling Corluka after 77 minutes and at the other end Mpenza's shot from the edge of the D appeared to strike Laursen on the arm.

Martin O'Neill tried a late shake-up with Stiliyan Petrov replacing Nigel Reo-Coker and Craig Gardner coming on for Bouma, while the excellent Elano was replaced by Michael Ball as City looked to hold on.

Johnson could have added a second after another break from deep but Gardner blocked his shot, but in the end his early second-half strike proved enough. Substitute Bianchi almost added a breakaway second but his effort was cleared off the line.

Full Report: Soccernet.com

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Raikkonen the Spa-master, Belgian GP - Race

Kimi Raikkonen dominated the 44-lap Belgian Grand Prix to record his third straight win at the classic Belgian venue. With Felipe Massa following home five seconds back to record a Ferrari one-two, the Italian team have wrapped up the 2007 constructors’ championship.

Starting from the pole position, Raikkonen was never seriously challenged but Massa at least kept the pressure on to the chequered flag. The result closes Raikkonen to within 13 points of championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

This weekend the McLaren Mercedes duo had not answer to the pace of Ferrari. Fernando Alonso finished a distant third with Hamilton ten seconds back in fourth position. The start of the Grand Prix saw Alonso and Hamilton run wheel to wheel exiting La Source and for a few seconds it seemed that Hamilton would try and go side-by-side through Eau Rouge.

Hamilton made the sensible decision and backed off and the order was set. Alonso’s third position moves him within two points of Hamilton with three races remaining.

Starting sixth, Nick Heidfeld got the jump on Nico Rosberg in the first round of pit stops and was able to finish in a lonely fifth position, half a minute behind Hamilton and 25 seconds ahead of Rosberg who again drove a fine race for the Williams Toyota team.

Mark Webber started and finished in seventh position, showing good race pace in the Red Bull Renault.

Team-mate David Coulthard’s RB3 suffered a hydraulics failure whilst running 12th.

The final point went to Heikki Kovalainen and Renault. The Finn, as expected, opted for a one stop strategy and despite massive pressure from Robert Kubica in the closing stages, held on to continue his run of top eight results. Giancarlo Fisichella did not have such a good day and retired at the end of the first lap after going off track and damaging his suspension. The Italian veteran had started the race from the pit lane in the spare Renault.

Kubica fought hard race-long and will be disappointed not to score a point. Starting 14th he made progress early on but could not find a way to get ahead of Kovalainen in the closing stages.

Toyota had hoped to score some much-needed points in Belgium with Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher starting eighth and tenth. As is often the case, Trulli slipped back on the first lap and was unable to regain the ground. Schumacher finished tenth, 15 seconds clear of Trulli.


Tonio Liuzzi finished 12th for Toro Rosso Ferrari while team-mate Sebastian Vettel was an early retirement with a mechanical issue. Rubens Barrichello took the flag 13th for Honda while a hydraulics issue eliminated team-mate Button. Adrian Sutil ran 12th early on in the race in his Spyker Ferrari and put in a fine drive on a two-stop strategy to finish 14th in what has been his strongest race for some time.

Super Aguri Honda expected a tough race and they got it with Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson finishing 15th and 16th ahead of Sakon Yamamoto in the second Spyker.

Alex Wurz was one of five retirements in his Williams Toyota and at a time when he needed a strong showing, his race was a disaster. Starting 15th the Austrian veteran spun to the back of the field and then later on had another off track moment before retiring from the event. With Rosberg showing so well, Wurz will be leaving Spa Francorchamps feeling the pressure.

So a red-wash in a less than thrilling Grand Prix. The title battle is closing up nicely however as the teams get ready for a trip to Fuji Speedway in two weeks…

Source: F1-live.com

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