your move, Fergie.
The momentum in this title race has swung from one end of the city to the other and last night brought potentially the most dramatic shift of all.
City were well on their way to a 4-0 romp against West Bromwich Albion when sporadic cheers began to ripple around the Etihad Stadium. Manchester United were losing. Such an occurrence would offer City fans endless titillation anyway – it was to Wigan Athletic of all clubs – but their glee was fostered by a realisation that the title race was not over.
A narrow defeat by Arsenal had left City adrift of their rivals and their ambitions of league glory were seemingly petering out. The club are still five points off the top but their momentum will now be sky high, and that can be potent when a season is reaching its denouement.
City fans were also left to hail an unlikely hero. Carlos Tevez scored his first goal in 11 months to seal the win last night, adding to Sergio Aguero's earlier brace. It was a mis-hit shot and it only went in thanks to a deflection, but the Argentine didn't care. Nor did City's supporters.
They were beside themselves when David Silva added a fourth just three minutes later – a truly wonderful finish – but there it was little coincidence that both the Spaniard and Aguero were conspicuous in this win.
City have been at their best this season when the pair have combined and Silva's absence in recent weeks has seen their threat diminish. They were reinvigorated against West Brom, though.
There were times that they tried to be too intricate but that was likely a born from the manner in which they carved teams open together earlier in the campaign. The first goal was a more direct move up field which culminated in Aguero holding off the attention on Keith Andrews to drill a shot past Ben Foster. Samir Nasri's through ball then allowed the City striker to add a second after the break.
He turned provider later on as he clipped a pass into the path of Tevez to bundle in, and then teed up Silva with a neat pass. The precocious forward did the rest, beating Foster with a delightful chip.
It was a moment of unerring quality and was greeted with fervent approval from the stands. So was the United result.
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