Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City have little margin for error in the title race after labouring to a 3-0 win at bottom side Hull. Time and again they do enough to hold out for long periods, only for one mistake to prove costly.
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After the interval Hull took the game to City but their extra attacking intent left gaps in their defence and Kevin De Bruyne rattled the near post with a cleverly disguised effort, which beat David Marshall all ends up.
Toure scored from a 72nd-minute penalty after Andrew Robertson fouled Raheem Sterling, with an Iheanacho tap-in and a Curtis Davies own goal completing the win.
The back-line has been City’s weak-link this season, but Guardiola is trying to improve the all-round play of the team to solve the problem.
Manchester City won their second consecutive Premier League game for the first time since early November last time out, but they’ll hope to make it a hat-trick of wins against lowly Hull City.
Yaya Toure, who was the best player on the pitch, converted emphatically and killed off the fearless Hull challenge.
As the half progressed, Hull’s belief grew and City’s composure in the Hull area decreased accordingly. Building off of the last two games with solid defense and an absolute hunger for goals would be a step in the right direction. Hull City almost took the lead on the hour mark when Michael Dawson saw his looping header cleared off the line by Bacary Sagna before De Bruyne hit a shot just wide at the other end.
MF Jake Livermore, 7 – A couple of half chances for the all-action midfielder, who pressed forward to squeeze his visitors.
After promising initial signs, City lacked that quality in the first half.
But, as had been the case in the first half, Hull responded and refused to allow City to settle.
Yet Phelan was quick to stand up for Robertson after an impressive recent run of games. “Andy Robertson has been terrific”.
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“Because of his contract situation, he’s under contract, so unless someone comes in with a huge amount of money which it would take to deliver somewhere else, he’s a Hull City player”.
