City’s season on the up

After a 2-0 win against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, Manchester City progressed to the knockout stages of the Champions League and in doing so proved that they are a team and not just reliant on Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure who were both missing for the encounter in Italy.

The win continues a strong run for City that has seen them win six games in a row in all competitions including the heroic 3-2 win over Bayern Munich and has also seen them close the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea to a mere 3 points.

The 2-0 win in Rome was a real statement from Manuel Pellegrini’s side, the Stadio Olimpico is an intimidating place to go and City looked comfortable for the full ninety minutes with a superb Nasri goal and a cool finish from Zabaleta securing the win for the English side.

Roma themselves are in 2^nd place in Serie A and have shown that they are no pushovers by any means but Pellegrini’s side showed the quality we expect from reigning Premier League champions and have maybe emerged as potential contenders for the Champions League in the process.

The injury to Sergio Aguero at the weekend that will see him miss up to six weeks of action was greeted with alarm bells as the Premier League top scorer was the catalyst for City’s great run of form as of late, lasts nights win showed that they are not dependent on the little Argentine and are capable of scoring without him.

Ivory Coast man Yaya Toure was another high profile absentee from the side that beat Roma as he was suspended but City will have to get used to playing without him with the African Cup of Nations in January he will be missing for some important games but they showed last night that they are not dependent on the powerful midfielder.

Fans and players alike will be hoping that this recent form can continue, a solid run could see them pass Chelsea and get a foothold in the title race that was only a month ago seen as a one horse race with Chelsea streaks above the rest. Pellegrini’s men on current form are a match for any side and will hope to give the next rounds of the Champions League a real go in the New Year.