Emmanuel Adabyor has escaped a ban for his goal celebration against Arsenal, at least for the time being. He does get a £25,000 fine and a two match suspended ban till December 2010. The official City site claims Mark Hughes was delighted.
Mark Hughes:
“We are just glad to put it all behind us now and I am relieved he will be able to play at Aston Villa on Monday night.”
“Manu was in great form before his suspension and having him available again is a huge boost to us.”
In the initial aftermath of the match and back page furore that followed, it looked as though the FA would come down hard on Adebayor. Allowing time to pass before the hearing today may well have worked in City’s favour.
Continue Reading →
Against Arsenal it was initially his work-rate that impressed as we sought to keep Arsnal’s passing moves at bay. There was a decent opportunity where he turned and hit the ball at Almunia. This proved to be a warm-up as he took a second chance with a better connection to score his first of the season.
Arguably his contribution to the fourth goal was even more impressive. Tracking back and dispossessing Clichy with an excellent challenge, he turned defence into attack, sprinted upfield before laying the ball off for Wright-Phillips to score.
Continue Reading →
Given – Needed to be alert in the second half as West Ham pressed. His finest moment was turning over a stinging shot from Diamanti. 7
Zabaleta – Justified his selection ahead of Richards. The Argentine tackled well, and linked up with the forwards intelligently. 7
Continue Reading →
City saw off an initially limp West Ham side with a brace from Tevez and a free-kick from the recalled Martin Petrov. Arguably this was the most convincing performance of the season so far. West Ham kept plugging away in the second half, but there seemed less danger of dropping points than in any of the other fixtures this season. This alone is a sign of how the team is progressing.
Continue Reading →