London: Manchester City are as close to glory as they ever came in 44 years with a 2-0 victory over 4th placed Newcastle United in their penultimate match of this season.
Ivorian Yaya Toure provided the two key goals in the 70th and the 89th minute to seal the deal for the blues after they played out a frustrating first half in which the forwards spill many a chance to find the net.
"It was difficult because Newcastle are a good team but I thought we deserved to win. We had a lot of chances but because we could not score in the first half we made it hard for ourselves,” said calm and collected Manchester City Manager Roberto Mancini as quoted by City’s official website (http://www.mcfc.co.uk).
"We deserved a goal in the first half, but they defended well. In the second half it was the same, and after Yaya`s goals they still had chances so if you want to win these games you have to play well. It will be the same next Sunday," the Manager added.
Meanwhile, Manchester United, City’s closest rival for the Championship also registered an easy win over Swansea with the similar margin of 2-0.
City, currently leading the table on the basis of goal difference are all but set to clinch Premier League title for the third time in their history as they would be facing off against the relegation threatened Queens Park Ranger and Manchester United will be locking horns with Sunderland and the Reds would have to beat The Black cats by a margin off over eight goals, which seems highly unlikely.
First Published: Monday, May 07, 2012, 08:26