England’s under-19 international can aptly be judged likewise City legend, Colin Bell as Eriksson’s choice to keep the player within the club has yet again made a great difference to the side. The rampaging second-half goal to win the match and propel Manchester City to second spot is indeed, pick of the Premiership.
Johnson’s decisive goal came in the 48th minute with a low right-foot striking shot that landed into the net. The game although appearing to be evenly poised with both sides creating scoring chances, but Johnson’s strike was enough to give City their third successive 1-0 home league win, thus ending a run of two defeats this season. The win also meant City to maintain its 100% home record this season and keep their clean sheet run at Eastlands.
The visitors failed to provide the spark to unlock the City back line to miss the chance to add to their back-to-back victories. Having enough chances to square with Gabriel coming close in the first half but was unable to direct the ball into the net while John Carew wasted a close-range header and Laursen doing likewise from two corners.
Praising Johnson, Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson said:
Michael Johnson is the all-round midfielder. He can pass, run, shoot, tackle, he has it all. He was excellent. I see him as a future captain.
Arsenal still leads the division table with 13 points as City has 12 points from six games while Liverpool, the defending champion Manchester United and Chelsea are one point further back. In the 20-team standings, Villa however remains on the mid-table with seven points.
Via: Bloomberg
