Fresh from their Champions League disappointment at the hands of Barcelona in midweek, attentions returned to the Premier League for Manuel Pellegrini and his Man City side and with Chelsea threatening to run away with the league victory over Hull City was a necessity.
The last time Man City won away to Hull was 105 years ago, and that unwanted statistic appeared to weigh Pellegrini’s men down, as it was Hull who started brightly.
Tom Huddlestone whipped a free-kick straight through the City box in the opening minute, and striker Nikica Jelavic proved a handful for the centre-back pairing of Vincent Kompany and Martin Demichelis.
Indeed, it was Jelavic who was at the centre of controversy, when referee Lee Mason showed Kompany a straight red card after only nine minutes.
Jelavic out-muscled Kompany to win the ball, but as the Croatian tried to race off on goal, he was hauled to the ground by the Belgian international, who was deemed the last man.
Hull couldn’t make the most of their man advantage however, and instead it was Man City who prospered, and they were soon in front following a wonderful strike from David Silva.
The Spanish international picked the ball up from Yaya Toure just in front of the Hull defence and after dropping his should and skipping inside, curled an unstoppable effort beyond Allan McGregor.
It was all City from then on and they were a little unfortunate not to be two ahead, after Pablo Zabaleta’s sweetly-struck half-volley cannoned off the underside of the bar, before hitting the goal-line and bouncing out. The video replay showed Lee Mason was right not to award a goal.
At the first half drew to a close, Hull slowly regained their composure and thought they had equalised, but David Meyler’s effort was ruled offside, before Jake Livermore then whistled a shot past Joe Hart’s nearside post.
As the second half unfurled it was Hull who were on top, with Steve Bruce’s men piling on the pressure on ten-man City.
Large sections of Hull’s KC Stadium protested that City should perhaps have gone down to nine men as striker George Boyd theatrically tumbled over the outrushing Joe Hart, however Lee Mason waved away the appeal. The incident acted as a flashpoint with Hart lambasting the Scotland international, resulting in a yellow card for the custodian.
However, it did little to temper Hull’s continued assault, but with further efforts from Jelavic failing to break through, a Man City victory looked all the more inevitable.
Following news that Sergio Aguero has suffered a reoccurrence of a hamstring injury, Manuel Pellegrini erred on the side of caution, resting Alvaro Negredo and playing Edin Dzeko as a lone strike, and while the Bosnian international was quiet throughout, he ensured that Man City would leave Hull with maximum points, tucking David Silva’s wonderful through ball under Allan McGregor for his seventh league goal of the season.
Read more at http://talksport.com/football/hull-city-0-2-man-city-silva-dazzles-ten-man-citizens-14031583614#QiH37DqISOuoe3PF.99
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