Tevez inspires City win

Man City prepared for the visit of champions Chelsea next weekend with a 2-0 victory against Wigan.

Striker produces match winning display as City secure vital win

Manchester City prepared for the visit of Premier League champions Chelsea next weekend with a hard-fought 2-0 victory against Wigan at the DW Stadium. Carlos Tevez inspired City to all three points after giving Roberto Mancini's side the lead just before the break. Joe Hart's long goal-kick was glanced on by the unfortunate Mohamed Diame and the striker escaped the attentions of Antolin Alcaraz to dink the ball over the advancing Ali Al Habsi. The Argentina international helped secure the victory after taking advantage of Maynor Figueroa's misplaced header to set up Yaya Toure to score his first goal for the club in the second half. Wigan fought hard on a tricky surface as Al Habsi had been a virtual spectator until Tevez hit his opener and the result was hard on Roberto Martinez's men who matched their opponents for long periods.

Purpose

City had started with plenty of purpose, with Micah Richards lucky to escape a caution for a careless challenge on Figueroa, then Tevez ruled just offside after being sent through by James Milner. When a Richards cross was half-cleared the ball fell to Tevez who scooped high and wide on a slippery surface which made conditions difficult for both teams. Tevez came close to giving the visitors a 14th-minute lead when he ran at the Wigan defence before hitting a low shot from long range which flashed just wide of Al Habsi's right-hand post. Wigan almost fashioned a chance after 23 minutes when Nigel de Jong gave the ball away to Figueroa who blazed down the right only to see his attempted cross cut out by Vincent Kompany. With City struggling to fire, Wigan began to enjoy more possession and had their first shot on target on the half-hour, when Franco Di Santo skidded a low shot from the left into Hart's arms. Pablo Zabaleta fired over from 20 yards for City who were often being made to look second best in midfield by a home side who harried for every ball. City's opener had a great deal of fortune about it as Hart's deep goal-kick struck Diame and Tevez nipped in to loft the opener gently over the advancing Al Habsi. And City came close to extending their lead in the first minute of the second half when David Silva made space on the right and crossed for Tevez, who mis-kicked in front of goal. City certainly seemed to have much more purpose about them and that was underlined by a jinking run by Tevez which was finally brought to an end in the six-yard box by Steve Gohouri. Zabaleta hit a shot from a tight angle straight at Al Habsi in what was the Wigan keeper's first save of the match, before Gohouri was cautioned for a late challenge on Tevez.

Warning

There were warning signs for Wigan in the 68th minute when Gohouri's slack ball at the back let in Tevez, who rammed his shot straight at Al Habsi. And it did undo them in the 70th minute when Figueroa failed to head clear allowing Tevez to nip in and loft the ball across the face of goal for Yaya Toure to stab home at the far post. With the fight suddenly drifting out of the home side Tevez almost added his second in the 74th minute with a left-foot effort that flashed across the face of goal. And substitute Adam Johnson almost added a third in injury-time when his rising shot from the left deflected off Ronnie Stam and hit the bar.

Wigan Athletic	Team Statistics	Manchester City
0	Goals	2
0	1st Half Goals	1
0	Shots on Target	3
7	Shots off Target	6
3	Blocked Shots	1
3	Corners	1
10	Fouls	16
1	Offsides	7
1	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
79.6	Passing Success	81.6
21	Tackles	20
52.4	Tackles Success	95
45.7	Possession	54.3
49.9	Territorial Advantage	50.1