Manchester City 1 West Brom 0: Manchester City are hardly purring as they head into final preparations for the FA Cup final with Wigan Athletic. This was a chugging display that might have been two points dropped – or worse if West Bromwich Albion had taken their chances. Still, with the Latics going down to Swansea City, the dethroned champions at least have the momentum of this win, however unconvincing, as they head to the capital.
Despite best intentions it was unrealistic to expect players to be able to completely force Saturday's Cup final from their minds. In a sluggish start Samir Nasri mis-controlled a simple ball when closing in on Boaz Myhill's goal, then Carlos Tevez lost possession after turning into midfield traffic to suggest concentration was not yet fully focussed on the requirement to secure three points in City's quest to finish second.
Still, it was Roberto Mancini's team who came close to scoring first and who would dominate the opening period. When James Milner won a free-kick down the right, Aleksandar Kolarov swung in the dead ball and after Myhill flapped under pressure from Micah Richards, Jack Rodwell spooned the chance over from close quarters.
Mancini had made nine changes from the XI that could only manage a goalless draw at Swansea City on Saturday. Joe Hart, Nasri and Milner were the survivors in a side that featured Richards as captain in only his second start since 27 October due to a serious knee injury, with Rodwell, who has again been plagued by hamstring problems this season, also named in the line-up for the first time since 4 March.
Before Edin Dzeko scored for City, it was Rodwell who missed the first half’s best chance. From a City corner on the left, the ball came to the midfielder straight in front of West Brom’s goal but from close range he missed his attempted kick.
When Tevez stepped up to beat Myhill only to see the ball smash back off the bar the sense grew that City would surely score soon. When they did, the move started through Nasri who, perhaps conscious of the need to push for a Cup final berth, harried Youssouf Mulumbu off the ball in midfield. The Frenchman fed Rodwell, who turned possession on to Tevez down the right. After looking up, the Argentinian found Dzeko with an expertly judged cross and the striker left Myhill no chance with the finish.
Before that West Brom had managed to fashion two chances. A James Morrison corner caused Hart to come and flap at the delivery, and when the ball fell to Mulumbu his effort was driven at a crowd of players, and the danger was cleared.
Marcus Rosenburg also slipped in behind the City defence for a clear sight of Hart's goal, but he drove the shot too close to the goalkeeper, who made the save to his right.
As half-time approached, Rodwell should have doubled City’s advantage. Yet, after Tevez fed him the ball, he again lost his composure and blazed over.
West Brom started the second half testing Hart's reflexes through Billy Jones whose header came at the City No1 at pace before being beaten away impressively by him. This began a period of sustained pressure from the visitors, who peppered their opponents' area with corners and the firing of balls into Romelu Lukaku, whose muscular presence was starting to trouble City's rearguard for the first time.
This had sections of the home support restless and shouting expletives at their side until Nasri, again, forced the issue for City. The Frenchman surged into the area to take the ball to the right byline before dinking in a ball that found Rodwell. His first effort came off Gabriel Tamas. When the ball broke back to him, the midfielder this time took aim and smacked an effort on the angle at Myhill, who was forced to save well.
In his programme notes ahead of the contest, Mancini had written: “This is a big week in the history of Manchester City. Hopefully it will end with us adding another FA Cup to the club’s honours list. After the match this evening only then we will turn our thoughts to the final and the one thing we can be sure of at Wembley Stadium is fantastic support.”
Yet despite this insistence on taking care of West Brom before the business at Wembley, when Mancini looked at the clock as it approached 70 minutes his side had still not put Steve Clarke’s team away.
In fact, it was Rosenberg who gave City the scare with a 20-yard shot on the diagonal that was deflected away for a corner.
After Shane Long’s late introduction, the forward gave City a further scare when letting fly an attempt that only narrowly went wide of Hart’s left post.
Now, though, Mancini and his gang can finally think only of Wembley, and more Cup glory to follow the 2011 triumph. The manager also wrote: “I can tell everyone who supports the club that we are hungry to keep winning trophies and to make history.”
At the weekend, City will have their chance.
