Baggies earn rare point at Manchester City
Dias own-goal earns draw with West Brom
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Manchester City’s title hopes took a hit on Tuesday as the Blues drew 1-1 with West Bromwich Albion.
The first chance of the match came West Brom’s way in the eighth minute.
A nice cross by Darnell Furlong was headed clear by Rodri.
Conor Gallagher though got possession for the Baggies and his pass deflected off Joao Cancelo but Ederson was alert making a nice low save.
City garnered much possession through the first-half but didn’t really threaten Sam Johnstone in the West Brom goal early on.
City found the breakthrough on the half-hour mark.
A very well crafted goal as Raheem Sterling made a great run down the right.
His pass into the box was perfectly met by the onrushing Ilkay Gundogan who smashed it into the net for the opener.
West Brom were fortunate to draw level just before half-time.
Man City did a poor job clearing the Baggies free-kick in the 43rd minute.
Semi Ajayi’s shot from just outside the box deflected off Ruben Dias sneaking under Ederson for the equalizer.
In the second half, City was desperate to regain their advantage.
A bad giveaway by West Brom skipper Jake Livermore eventually came to Kevin De Bruyne whose shot went wide.
In the 62nd minute, Ayaji did well to cut out a dangerous cross from Cancelo and clear the danger.
Six minutes later a nice feed by Sterling found De Bruyne down the right.
Johnstone did well to cut down the angle and beam his shot away for a corner.
De Bruyne had a nice chance on 86 minutes.
The Belgians free-kick took a deflection but Johnstone did well to dive out in time and parry the shot away.
Two minutes later City nearly found the winner.
On the counter a nice ball down the left to substitute Sergio Aguero who couldn’t hit the target.
In injury time City had perhaps their best opportunities to win.
Sam Johnstone in the 91st minute saved a close-range header by Gundogan following a nice cross by De Bruyne.
In the final minute of stoppage time, another great cross from De Buryne found Raheem Sterling but Johnstone saved his header kicking out his leg for a brilliant save.
Man of the Match
Sam Johnstone put in a brilliant performance for the Baggies in this match.
His heroics in goal gave his side a valuable point as they look to climb out of the relegation zone.
With his team lagging behind in the late stages of the match he was at his best.
A pair of brilliant reaction saves in stoppage time helped West Brom earn its first point in their last three EPL matches.
He faced seven high-quality chances throughout the match from City and saved six of them.
Stopping the bleeding
The draw doesn’t change West Brom’s position in the standings but it does give Slaven Bilic’s side a psychological boost.
It’s the first time since 2005 that the Baggies got a result at Manchester in the Premier League.
It’s also the first time in the last 12 matches with City that West Brom has conceded one goal or less.
Streak ended
The 43rd-minute own-goal is the first City had conceded in any competition since Tottenham put two past Ederson on November 21.
Before tonight’s goal City had gone 10 hours and 8 minutes without conceding a goal in any match.
City also hadn’t conceded at home in three straight matches in all competitions before tonight.
With the draw, however, Pep Guardiola’s side is now unbeaten in seven straight matches across all competitions.
Contributing
Raheem Sterling may not be putting the ball in the back of the net as much as City fans would like but he’s been helping out in other areas.
Following tonight’s assist, he’s now been involved in 148 goals in all competitions for City under Pep Guardiola.
That’s more than any other player at the club since Guardiola became manager.
Sterling is still second in goals for the team in the Premier League with three but has only one in his last eight EPL matches.
Managers Words
Following the match, Pep Guardiola gave his take on the disappointing result.
“At the end, we did everything but couldn’t score a goal,” says Guardiola.
“We created enough to win the game, 26 shots I think, you just have to put the ball in, we are struggling with that. We have to be optimistic.
“We were there but unfortunately we could not score.
“We have dropped points – but we are in early December and there are a lot of games.
“We deserved to win the game but we didn’t do it.”
West Brom’s Slaven Bilic says he’s proud of how his team held on to this valuable point.
“We defended as a unit, individually, and we also counted on Sam Johnstone who is our big asset, but that is what you need if you are to come to the Etihad and get anything out of the game,” says Bilic.
What it means
For City, they move temporarily into 6th place in the standings with 20 points.
West Brom remains in 19th place with seven points just two points out of the relegation zone which is currently held by Burnley.
Next Up
The Blues have only a few days to rest as their next Premier League fixture goes Saturday at St. Mary’s Stadium against Southampton.
Kickoff is at 3 pm. (JSL).
