Manchester City 4 Blackburn Rovers 1:PATRICK VIEIRA was being serious when he declared that Manchester City were still involved in the title race. They have won five games in succession now and have clambered above Tottenham Hotspur into the fourth Champions League qualification place on the back of Roberto Mancini's appointment and with Carlos Tevez, on current form, the most prolific striker in the Premier League.
Tevez’s hat-trick takes his total to 15 goals in 21 starts since his defection from Manchester United on a night when Micah Richards scored the goal of his life and the only downside for Mancini came in the form of the first goal conceded by his side in the four games since he took over. Morten Gamst Pedersen’s left-foot shot prompted a brief flurry from the visitors but City were comfortably the better side and, even if the seven-point gap to Chelsea still looks like a formidable gap, there is the unmistakable sense of a side playing with renewed vigour and confidence.
Blackburn are on a dismal run and look conspicuously short of confidence. Sam Allardyce’s team arrived here without a league win since November 11th and have gone 11 games without success. Their defending was poor and their manager was entitled to be aggrieved by the way his team went down. Allardyce prides himself on discipline and organisation but there was a sloppy look about Blackburn from the moment that Tevez put the home side ahead after seven minutes.
It was a soft goal and Paul Robinson will feel particularly distraught, having come to meet Martin Petrov’s corner only to fumble his catch and spill the ball in front of Benjani Mwaruwari. In mitigation, Keith Andrews had accidentally impeded his team-mate but it will still be classed as poor goalkeeping. Benjani snatched at his shot but Tevez darted forward to get his body in the way and redirect the ball from going wide with a decisive touch off his thigh.
Tevez had collected the club’s player-of-the-month award before kick-off and City’s supporters must hope he can maintain this scoring form when his former employers come here in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final next week.
The Argentina international is scoring goals at a rate to suggest he is determined to demonstrate that Alex Ferguson was wallowing in sour grapes when he described his former player as not being worth the €28 million that City had paid for him. He has scored the same amount of goals as Wayne Rooney and more than Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen put together this season.
Poor defending also played a significant part in City doubling their lead although it would be unfair to take anything away from Richards after the storming run from defence that not only led to the goal but also suggested the player’s confidence has returned after a difficult period.
Richards took the ball from inside his own half as he began the advance, beating one man, then a second, moving into the centre circle and between two more challenges. It was some sight as he powered forward, all the way to the edge of the penalty area before slipping the ball through Blackburn’s centre-halves for Benjani to run clear. The striker scuffed his shot again and this time it came back off the post and spun into the path of the 21-year-old now inside the area. It was a deserved piece of fortune and Richards turned in a splendid goal of individual effort and drive.
Allardyce responded at half-time by replacing Andrews and Franco Di Santo for David Hoilett and Nikola Kalinic but any hopes of a comeback were extinguished three minutes into the second half when Tevez beat Robinson from 25 yards.
Blackburn’s only good period came after Vincent Kompany had miscontrolled the ball in defence and Pedersen beat Shay Given with a curling shot but Tevez then scored his third of the night with another clever finish from outside the area.
Guardian Service
MANCHESTER CITY:Given, Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Garrido, Petrov (Boyata 87), De Jong, Barry, Bellamy (Robinho 69), Tevez, Mwaruwari (Santa Cruz 81). Subs not used: Taylor, Wright-Phillips, Sylvinho, Ibrahim. Booked: Zabaleta.
BLACKBURN ROVERS:Robinson, Jacobsen, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Emerton, Andrews (Hoilett 46), Nzonzi, Pedersen, Dunn (Olsson 66), Di Santo (Kalinic 46). Subs not used: Brown, Reid, Salgado, Chimbonda. Booked: Pedersen.
Referee:Chris Foy (Merseyside).
