Carlos Tevez scored his first Manchester City hat-trick as they went fourth in the Premier League table with a 4-1 win over Blackburn Rovers at Eastlands in Manchester on Monday.
Victory meant City maintained their perfect record under Italian manager Roberto Mancini with their fourth straight success, even if they did concede their first goal under the former Inter boss when Morten Gamst Pedersen scored for Rovers to make it 3-1.
However, the match belonged to Argentina’s Tevez, who was in brilliant form as he made it 11 goals in his last nine games.
PHOTO: AFP
The former Manchester United striker opened the scoring in the seventh minute and, after Micah Richards’s superb second, Tevez struck two expert curling shots, the second in stoppage time, to seal City’s win.
City are now just seven points behind leaders Chelsea and the big-spenders, backed by their billionaire Abu Dhabi-based owner Sheikh Mansour, could yet have a big influence on the destiny of this season’s title.
By contrast, defeat left Rovers just three points above the relegation zone with all the teams below them having games in hand.
As new City signing Patrick Vieira, the former Arsenal midfielder who signed from Serie A champions Inter Milan last week, watched on from the stands, the hosts wasted little time in taking the lead.
Rovers and England keeper Paul Robinson’s poor punch from Martin Petrov’s corner fell to City striker Benjani Mwaruwari and the Zimbabwean’s mishit shot went into the net off Carlos Tevez’s thigh.
Rovers looked as if they might go in at half-time just a goal behind until, six minutes before the break, Richards started and finished a fine move with Benjani again involved in the build-up.
Richards ran some 50 yards from the heart of City’s defense, beating several retreating Rovers players, before passing to Benjani inside the box.
Benjani’s shot hit the post but Richards, who had continued his run, slotted home the rebound.
Rovers manager Sam Allardyce sent on strikers David Hoilett and Nikola Kalinic at half-time, but it was City who scored next, just four minutes into the second-half.
Tevez started the move from inside the City half before finding Benjani, a rejuvenated figure under Mancini, who pulled the ball back to his onrushing fellow striker. Benjani unleashed a magnificent 20-yard curling shot past Robinson.
Rovers pulled a goal back 19 minutes from time when Pedersen made the most of Kompany’s mistake to score from 16 yards.
City fans then had to endure a few nervous moments but, importantly, their defense held firm for the remainder of the match and then, in the first minute of injury time, Tevez wrapped things up with a sublime finish.
In related news, Fox was to announce yesterday that it was launching its second all-soccer channel in the US on March 1.
The new network, called Fox Soccer Plus, will televise matches of the European Champions League, England’s Premier League, the English Football Association Cup and the Italian Serie A.
Fox Soccer Channel began operation in 1997 and changed its name to FSC five years ago.
“As America’s interest in the world’s game is increasing, the launch of Fox Soccer Plus will complement and enhance our current programming on Fox Soccer Channel,” new FSC general manager David Nathanson said.
Fox has been televising the Premier League in the US since 1998 and sublicenses some of the games to Setanta USA and ESPN2, which is televising 48 matches this season.
Also on Monday, FSC said it was hiring Andy Gray of News Corp’s Sky Sports in Britain for its studio show during this year’s World Cup. Gray, a former Scotland international, worked for ESPN’s US coverage of the 2008 European Championship.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set