Adam Johnson's Stunning Strike Glosses Over Citizen's Gritty Win

Mancini and his Manchester City have shown us many sides to their character this season. They are resolute in defence, even without the collossal Nigel de Jong. City have shown that they are not content to sit back on a lead. They have served up game after game of excellent attacking football, never resting but always probing. And against Wolves, they showed that they can be patient, they confirmed that they have believe in themselves and more importantly, City proved that they too know how to win while playing "ugly".

This match against Wolves at home, was supposed to be the crowning glory of an excellent week as Mancini's City came back expecting to bask in the adoration of their fans. Unfortunately, Wolves proved tougher to subdue with Welsh No. 1 Wayne Hennessey equal to everything that Aguero, Silva, Nasri and Dzeko threw at him.

In the end, Manchester City had to wait before they scored their customary three goals against Premier League opposition. Adam Johnson racing all the way from defence, collected a pass from Yaya and fired home a 20-yard curler past the Wolves keeper.

Continue Reading >>>

Three Ways To Three Points: What West Ham Must Do To Beat Wolves

With the heavy snowy conditions, most Premiership matches have been canceled. However the match that matters most, West Ham v. Wolves, looked, at the time of writing, to be going ahead. With so many fixtures canceled, this is the most opportune time for West Ham to steal a march on their relegation threatened rivals.

West Ham squad will be boosted with the returning Scott Parker and Mark Noble from injury. The smart thinking of Guillermo Franco to draw the yellow card (hence sitting out the FA Cup third round) means that the wily Mexican is eligible for this match. Bar Carlton Cole and Herita Ilunga, Gianfranco Zola have a pretty useful squad to choose from.

After encouraging performances against Chelsea, Portsmouth and Arsenal, there is a growing sense of optimism and confidence the the club can play itself out of relegation danger.

So while in anticipation for this match to take place, assuming that it does, I have thought of three ways in order for West Ham to beat Wolves and gain those valuable three points. Make no mistake about it, a massive three points here could lift the Hammers up to 13th spot, level points (21) with Blackburn Rovers.

Here are the three ways:

Continue Reading >>>