Newcastle United 1-3 Manchester City: Toon Flattened by Clinical Champions
Sergio Aguero, Javi Garcia and Yaya Toure help Manchester City overcome a spirited Newcastle United at St James' Park
Manchester City produced the perfect response to their derby-day defeat as they dispatched Newcastle United in clinical fashion at St James' Park.
Sergio Aguero netted after 10 minutes before Javi Garcia nodded in his second City goal to double the lead.
Demba Ba's header five minutes after the break gave Newcastle hope but Yaya Toure struck decisively late on to settle the contest, keep the pressure on neighbours Manchester United and inflict a sixth defeat in seven league games on Alan Pardew's side.
After their last-gasp derby defeat last weekend, City were keen not to lose any more ground on leaders United against a Newcastle side who, with one win in their last ten, were looking to kickstart their faltering season.
Roberto Mancini opted to drop Mario Balotelli as he partnered Aguero and Carlos Tevez in attack. City have won all 12 Premier League games in which the pair have started together.
Having set the pace in the early exchanges, Papiss Cisse almost gave The Magpies immediate respite from their turbulent form as he swept Cheick Tiote's cross goalwards but Joe Hart was quick to turn the ball away.
The chance sparked the Premier League champions into life and their first foray in the Newcastle half yielded the opening goal as Toure's threaded pass exposed Davide Santon and found Samir Nasri, whose squared pass was tapped into an empty net by Aguero.
Toure was then denied by Tim Krul from close range, and as City continued to cut through the hosts at will, Nasri squeezed the ball under the Dutch stopper only to hit the post with Mike Williamson diving to block Aguero's follow-up effort.
But in a helter-skelter contest, Newcastle then took the initiative as Williamson's driven half-volley forced Hart to sprawl to his left to keep it out.
Both Aguero and Tevez were guilty of missing the target with gilt-edged opportunities, but Newcastle's good fortune ran out six minutes shy of the interval when Santon made a mess of a goal-line clearance from Garcia's header.
The second half began in similar fashion to the first, but having not converted their dominance into goals Newcastle righted a wrong as Fabricio Coloccini's looped ball found an untracked Ba, who nodded beyond Hart to halve the deficit.
His international colleague Cisse should have levelled the scores but blazed over after being played in by Vernon Anita as the home side stormed out of the traps in the first quarter of the second period.
However, City were able to stem the flow and notched a sucker punch third goal with 12 minutes left. Pablo Zabaleta pulled the ball back for Yaya Toure to poke the ball beyond Krul to evoke memories of the Ivory Coast midfielder's double in the corresponding fixture last season. Then, his goals helped secure the title for City; this time he helped keep his team in sight of rivals United. For Newcastle, the misery continues.
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