Match Of This Day – Manchester City Edge Past Canaries In Seven Goal Thriller

2012 – Norwich City

On this day in 2012, Premier League champions Manchester City were struggling to keep hold of their title. Although the blues had only lost two matches, they had drawn six had trailed leaders United by 7 points. To make matters worse, the reds had won at the Etihad Stadium three weeks earlier and that defeat left City with a lot of catching up to do.

The blues had lost 1-0 at Sunderland on Boxing Day and were looking to continue where they finished off last season, when they beat the hosts 6-1, thanks to a hat-trick from Carlos Tevez. But this time around it was Edin Dzeko who was on target as the blues ended 2012 with victory.

Eager to put the Sunderland defeat behind them, the blues ripped into Norwich and were 2-0 ahead after just four minutes. In the 2^nd minute, Aguero’s pass to David Silva was tapped on first time to the Bosnian striker, who finished with a first time shot. And just two minutes later, the big Bosnian was on hand again. Yaya Toure’s through ball sent Aguero away and the Argentine skipped around the keeper, but with no angle for a shot, Aguero played it to Dzeko who tapped into an empty net.

On 15 minutes, Norwich pulled a goal back when Pilkington’s free-kick beat Joe Hart in the City goal. There were no further goals before half-time, however midfielder Samir Nasri was sent off on the stroke of the interval. The winger was brought down by a dreadful challenge, but then got to his feet to confront the Norwich man and the referee produced a red card, much to the bemusement of manager Roberto Mancini.

But it didn’t matter too much. On 50 minutes, Aguero latched onto Toure’s ball forward and the Argentine dinked his shot over the keeper to make it 3-1 to City. But back came Norwich and Russell Martin had time and space to direct a header past Hart to make it 3-2.

But four minutes later, Carrow Road saw another City hat-trick as Dzeko scored his third. The striker found himself in acres of space and, with Norwich appealing for offside. Dzeko tore forward and his shot hit the post and keeper before nestling into the net.

That was in the 67^th minute so plenty of time for the blues to gives the supporters a heart scare, and they duly obliged on 75 minutes. The blues failed to clear to ball and Martin hammered home is second and Norwich’s third.

Thankfully, an equalizer never materialised and the blues once again left Carrow Road with three points.

Final Score: Norwich City 3-4 Manchester City