Man City edges Blackpool 3-2 to close gap at top

Posted Monday, October 18, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

BLACKPOOL, England (AP)—Manchester City closed the gap on leader Chelsea to two points after Carlos Tevez’s double helped to secure a 3-2 victory over Blackpool in the Premier League on Sunday.

Tevez chipped home David Silva’s low cross to put City ahead in the 67th minute and the Argentina striker sent a deflected drive into the net 11 minutes later—soon after Marlon Harewood had headed Blackpool level.

Silva looked to have settled the match when he curled in his first league goal in the 90th, but Gary Taylor-Fletcher still found time to pull one back for Blackpool.

“They put us under a lot pressure, which we knew they would,” City winger James Milner said. “We managed to ride the storm, score three good goals, and hung on at the end.

“The best is to come but it’s the sign of a good team when they can win and not play the best football. Hopefully we can keep improving as a team, keep moving forward and hopefully you’ll see the best of us soon.”

Second-place City took full advantage of defending champion Chelsea being held 0-0 by Aston Villa on Sunday. Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham are a further three points behind City.

City only got going in the second half at Blackpool—and it was powered to victory by Tevez taking his tally to 28 goals in his last 31 league games.

“He’s carried on from last season,” City midfielder Gareth Barry said. “He’s a world class striker.”

Tevez’s first goal came when he got in front of Craig Cathcart as substitute Silva played the ball in and forced it home.

Milner twice came close to extending City’s lead—a chipped effort was cleared off the line by Neal Eardley before goalkeeper Matt Gilks turned his effort over the bar.

Blackpool hit back in the 78th with substitute Harewood guiding a header beyond England goalkeeper Joe Hart following a free kick by Charlie Adam.

The home side’s celebrations lasted only a minute with Tevez regaining the lead for City. He took the ball off Ian Evatt and rifled in a shot that took a deflection off Cathcart.

Tevez then saw his hopes of a hat trick thwarted by the cross bar before Silva pounced on Milner’s free kick and skipped through the defense before curling the ball into the corner of the net.

Taylor-Fletcher pulled one back after Luke Varney flicked on Charlie Adam’s corner.

Blackpool remains 10th with 10 points in its first season in the top flight since 1971