Shay Given puts in world class performance to hand Manchester City first victory in eight

Posted by Cathal Breathnach on December 5, 2009 | 1 Comment

Manchester City were great today but Shay Given was just exceptional.

Mark Hughes’ men claimed their first win in eight Premier League games, seeing off Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea 2-1 at Eastlands this evening.

An early own-goal by Emmanuel Adebayor put the visitors in front after a string of incredible saves from Given in the City net. The home side equalised minutes before the break when Adebayor made a mends for his earlier goal at the wrong end of the field, with a neat finish from all of six yards.

Chelsea players and fans felt Micah Richards handed to ball just before the ball fell to Adebayor, however referee Howard Webb waved away the protests. After the break, City continued to dominate proceedings and were rewarded when Carlos Tevez’ free-kick from the edge of the Chelsea box found the back of Petr Cech’s net.

It was clear to see that Chelsea were rattled and the londoners began to throw the kitchen sink at City. It looked as though Chelsea would leave Manchester with a point when Didier Drogba was brought down in the box by City substitute Nedum Onouha, however Frank Lampard saw his penalty expertly saved by Given.

City held on, despite heavy pressure from Ancelotti’s men and five minutes of added time to leapfrog Liverpool into fifth place in the table. Nigel de Jong received the man of the match award from the club, however ESPN rightly gave the champagne to Given. The Republic of Ireland number one was simply world class today.

What do you think? Comments below please.

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