Manchester City reached their first cup semi-final since 1981
and maintained the dream of ending their 33-year trophy drought
by beating Arsenal 3-0 at Eastlands.
Carlos Tevez, man-of-the-match Shaun Wright-Phillips and youngster
Vladimir Weiss did the damage, sending the Blues over the moon and
into Carling Cup orbit, with genuine hopes of emulating their Wembley
triumph in this competition under Tony Book in 1976.
At the same time, Arsene Wenger was left staring at the wreckage
of a wretched week which may beg the question of whether his grand
plan is that grand after all.
Twelve months ago, at exactly the same stage of the competition,
Tevez scored four times as Manchester United romped past Blackburn
on the way to providing the South American with a winners' medal
at Wembley.
Yet his presence in Sir Alex Ferguson's side that day emphasised
that he was not part of the best United team, a fact that became
more obvious as the season wore on.
The outcome was a controversial move across town to City, whose
supporters initially gloried in the capture of a man Ferguson had
tried to keep.
However, that enthusiasm - and the infamous "Welcome to Manchester''
poster - has given way to a more sceptical view as City's season
has headed downhill.
Yet even if the hustle and bustle can sometimes have no meaningful
end product, Tevez remains a difficult man to subdue.
And when he nicked the ball away from Tomas Rosicky and played
a one-two with Craig Bellamy, Tevez embarked on a crab-like run
across the box before pulling the trigger on a shot that crashed
in off the underside of the bar.
City's long-suffering fans were ecstatic. And they had even more
to celebrate 20 minutes later when Wright-Phillips collected Kolo
Toure's short pass and galloped at Mikael Silvestre, who failed
to get tight enough.
It was an open invitation to shoot. And the little England winger
obliged, Lukasz Fabianski again left clutching at air, with absolutely
no hope of getting near the ball.
For Hughes and his City team, the pressure valve applied by seven
straight Premier League draws has been released, until next month's
semi-final at least. |
