Showing posts with label Joleon Lescott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joleon Lescott. Show all posts
Premier League, Etihad Stadium - Manchester City 1 (Lescott 40) Arsenal 1 (Koscielny 82).
Laurent Koscielny struck with eight minutes remaining as Manchester City and Arsenal drew 1-1 at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League.
Arsenal impressed for much of the first half, but Joleon Lescott’s header turned the game the way of the hosts, and gave them the advantage at half time.
City had chances to put the game beyond the match in the sort of encounter Arsenal have often lost in recent seasons, but the Gunners held on and found their equaliser through Koscielny's clinical shot following a corner late on.
Both sides preserve their unbeaten starts to the season, with identical records of two wins and three draws, but Arsenal remain in front of City in fifth place by virtue of goal difference.
Koscielny, not a first choice this season for the Gunners, only started the match because Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen had been laid low by flu in the build-up to the match.
City, meanwhile, left both Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli on the substitutes' bench, with Roberto Mancini pairing Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko up front.
Arsenal made a very solid start, passing the ball around with confidence and class, even if chances were thin on the ground.
The first real test for either goalkeeper came when Aguero fired a snap shot from the edge of the area - Vito Mannone, standing in for the injured Wojciech Szczesny, could only parry it.
Two minutes later Gervinho had the first of several chances for the Gunners, played through by a weighted pass from Aaron Ramsey, only for a clunky touch to deny him so much as a shot on goal.
Lukas Podolski should also have done better when Carl Jenkinson robbed Lescott on the wing, drove to the byline and cut back, only for the German to sky his shot.
Santi Cazorla also did a great job playing Gervinho in, as did Ramsey once more, but the Ivorian got no closer than the side netting.
And Manchester City, who came into the match on the back of a 31-match unbeaten streak at home, took their chance when they got upfield.
Mannone came out to gather David Silva’s corner with no conviction, and nobody was able to prevent Lescott nodding firmly in at the far post.
The lead could have doubled moments later after Dzeko’s first-time shot from range, but this time Mannone managed a crucial fingertip save.
In the second half, the defending Premier League champions looked set to flex their muscles, with Aguero close from a tight angle, then seeing a shout for a penalty turned down with Koscielny beaten.
Gervinho, who got into excellent spaces time and again, continued to spurn half-chances and clear-cut ones alike, flashing wide at the near post with 24 minutes remaining.
But Arsenal did not give up on the game, and Arsene Wenger’s double-change, bringing on Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott for Abu Diaby and Podolski, kept the momentum up.
It might have cost them when City broke with Yaya Toure charging down the middle with 10 minutes remaining, but he held on to the ball a fraction too long and left Aguero to snatch at his shot.
And after Cazorla had tested Hart at the other end with a powerful shot from range, Koscielny was on hand to drill in an equaliser from the resulting corner.
At 1-1 both sides had opportunities to win. Aguero spurned the clearest one after Vincent Kompany had seen a spectacular overhead kick parried by Mannone, firing wide of the far post.
Then, as the game entered stoppage time, Gervinho compounded a frustrating afternoon by blazing through the middle with panache, only to splash the ball high and wide with panic.
Both sides are four points off the league leaders Chelsea in the title race, but it is the visitors who will probably be happier with the character they showed to take something from the match.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) - Even when the Gunners were behind, the accuracy and variety of Cazorla's passing made him the stand-out player on the pitch.
England opened their Euro 2012 campaign with a hard-fought 1-1 Group D draw against France at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk.
Manchester City team-mates Joleon Lescott and Samir Nasri traded first-half goals, and though his team were outplayed for long periods, England boss Roy Hodgson will be happy to take a point against the group favourites.
Sporting a 4-4-1-1 formation with nine men behind the ball for much of the game, England were limited in attack, but defended well despite surrendering their lead nine minutes after Lescott's 30th-minute header.
The technically-superior French struggled to turn their possession into clear goalscoring opportunities, and must find more cutting edge if they are to be considered serious contenders for the tournament.
Amazingly, France have still not won a European Championship match in which neither Michel Platini nor Zinedine Zidane was playing.
Hodgson opted for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the left side of midfield - yet the decision to select a player with just six Premier League starts to his name was both popular and logical.
Oxlade-Chamberlain provides a bold directness Stewart Downing singularly lacks, and showed his intent to run at France with some early forays.
However, the game started slowly at a less-than-full Donbass Arena populated largely by Russian fans.
Amid a limp atmosphere, both teams showed excessive caution until Ashley Young carved out a golden chance for James Milner on the quarter-hour mark.
Young played a perfectly-weighted through ball for the sprinting Milner, who took the ball past Hugo Lloris but could not find the empty net from the left side of the box. A poor miss.
France bucked up after that, dominating possession and keeping the ball far better than their opponents, with Nasri and Yohan Cabaye particularly influential.
However, it was England who took the lead when Lescott met a peach of a free-kick from Steven Gerrard with a powerful header that game Lloris no chance - the goalkeeper possibly at fault for not claiming the ball at the edge of the six-yard box.
Back came Laurent Blanc's men, and five minutes later Alou Diarra stung the hands of Joe Hart with a powerful header of his own, before nodding side seconds later.
England were not off the hook for long, and on 39 minutes Nasri levelled, drilling a low shot into the near side of Hart's goal from just outside the box.
The midfielder celebrated his goal by aiming a 'shh' gesture at the English bench - a possible reaction to comments from Gary Neville describing Nasri as "a cancer" at Arsenal, shortly before his move to City.
England backed off, with the tepid noise around the ground mirroring the poor fare on the pitch.
The biggest danger to England was arguably Milner, who gave the ball away several times in the second period, but France came no closer than when Karim Benzema struck a long shot at Hart, and Cabaye had a powerful strike deflected wide.
Scott Parker came off late on, clearly exhausted and lacking full match fitness after recovering from an Achilles injury.
Benzema tested Hart with another effort from distance in the last minute, but there was no way through.
Hodgson's England might be the most limited squad ever to reach a major tournament, but their fight and organisation may yet take them into the knockout stages.
Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott will miss Wednesday's clash against former club Everton with a hamstring injury which could keep him out for up to six weeks.
The 27-year-old international, who has nine caps, could also struggle to make England's World Cup squad with manager Fabio Capello set to name a provisional list of players on May 16.
Lescott, who suffered the injury in the warm-up before the Premier League match at Fulham on Sunday, joined City from Everton in August.
