Manchester City surged to the top of the Premier League with a 4-0 victory over a deflated Aston Villa.
City hit Premier League summit thanks to Balotelli hat-trick
Rampant Manchester City surged to the top of the Premier League - even if only for a few hours - with a crushing 4-0 victory over a deflated Aston Villa.
The controversial Mario Balotelli, starting in place of the rested Carlos Tevez who had to be content with a place on the bench, struck a hat-trick including two penalties to send City top of the pile.
Joleon Lescott also found the target in controversial circumstances to put the game beyond Villa who, in truth, were dead and buried before the half-hour mark.
For the remaining hour, Villa showed little appetite to get back into the contest as the pressure continues to mount on manager Gerard Houllier.
The game could not have got off to a worse start for the visitors, who were behind after just seven minutes. When David Silva slipped a pass through to Balotelli inside the penalty area, Eric Lichaj hauled the Italian down. Balotelli calmly walked up and sent Brad Friedel the wrong way from the spot.
Villa's calamitous opening continued when Lescott met Adam Johnson's near-post corner. Although Barry Bannan headed it out, the assistant referee controversially ruled the ball had already crossed the line.
On 28 minutes it was game over. Patrick Vieira sent Silva on another run and when the Spain star exchanged passes with Yaya Toure, he nipped inside a couple of half-challenges before aiming a curling shot for the far post.
Friedel got down to parry but could only push the ball straight at Balotelli who tapped into an empty net. Cue more muted celebrations. The Italian completed his hat-trick early in the second half, stroking calmly home from the penalty spot following a foul on Johnson.
Houllier rang the changes in the second half but shuffling his pack could do nothing to change the result as City fans celebrated climbing above their bitter rivals United.
Three wins from 13 matches for Houllier prior to this debacle could partly be explained away by the chronic injury-list the Frenchman has had to contend with.
The excuse is wearing a bit thin though judging by the boos that greeted referee Michael Oliver's shrill blast.
Character
If he takes notice of such things, hat-trick hero Balotelli would have woken to news of his apparent homesickness being made public knowledge.
Dealing with unhappiness within his squad has almost become a weekly occurrence for Roberto Mancini.
But he knew the downsides to Balotelli's combustible character when he brought the 20-year-old to England from Inter Milan and must therefore have been expecting such a problem at some stage.
Last week, Mancini chided the Italy star for not smiling enough. He didn't get that response from the first goal. He did after Balotelli's second though, which again was created by Silva, who is rivalling Tevez as player of the season.
Had deflections from goalbound shots from Toure and Silva ended up in the net, Villa would have been staring at utter humiliation.
As it was, City only had one more goal to reflect on over their interval cup of tea.
There was more than an element of controversy about it too as Lescott leapt to reach Johnson's corner at the near post, glancing it to the far, where Bannan headed it away, although not after the assistant referee felt it had crossed the line.
Having got into the smiling habit, Balotelli found he couldn't stop.
Rarely can anyone have exerted so little effort in completing a hat-trick as he hungrily grabbed the ball after Johnson had been sent tumbling by Marc Albrighton.
If anything, the second walk-up was even more leisurely than the first. Too slow indeed for Friedel not to commit himself. Once the American reached the point of no return, Balotelli made him look silly by knocking the ball into the other corner.
This time there was a rueful grin as the Italian acknowledged his achievement before a broader smile as he was embraced by delirious team-mates.
It was the end of the scoring but the difference in class from two sides who at the end of last season were both battling to break into the top four was depressingly evident for Houllier, who has a huge task in front of him to prevent a downward spiral spinning totally out of control.
| Manchester City |
Team Statistics |
Aston Villa |
| 4 |
Goals |
0 |
| 3 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 6 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 3 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 8 |
Corners |
6 |
| 14 |
Fouls |
14 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
0 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 87.5 |
Passing Success |
84.9 |
| 19 |
Tackles |
17 |
| 73.7 |
Tackles Success |
82.4 |
| 49.7 |
Possession |
50.3 |
| 49.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
50.9 |
|
