City 2-0 Portsmouth

Manchester City’s bid for a Champions League place were boosted this afternoon with an easy win over bottom side Portsmouth at Eastlands.

The Blues moved up to sixth in the table, level on points with Liverpool in fifth and one point behind fourth-placed Spurs. The blues also have two games in hand on both their rivals.

Following a week of cup ties, during which City progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup but lost out in the Carling Cup semi final, City got back to winning ways in the league with Emmanuel Adebayor and Vincent Kompany scoring the goals before half time.

Unsurprisingly, City started slowly and Pompey must have fancied their chances of taking something from the game and they were arguably the better side for 39 minutes, having two good chances to take the lead.

John Utaka had the first chance but scooped his shot over the bar after getting on the end of Danny Webber’s cross. Webber and Utaka were also involved in the move that ended with Kompany deflecting Anthony Vanden Borre’s shot onto his own bar.

However Adebayor, back in the team following the horrific attack on the Togo team bus during the African Cup of Nations, put City in front in fine style with five minutes to go to half time. The striker latched onto Ireland’s lofted pass and, with Mark Wilson appealing in vain for offside, the striker hammered a shot past David James for his seventh of the season.

Kompany wrapped up victory in first half stoppage time. Shrugging former City defender Tal Ben-Haim aside, Kompany met Martin Petrov’s corner and powered home his first goal of the season.

Portsmouth toiled to no avail in the second half and City almost made it three late on when Carlos Tevez created space in the box, but his shot hit the post.

The game is in stark contrast to last year’s game when City ran out 6-0 winners but it is the three points that matter in City’s quest to finish above Liverpool, Spurs and Villa in fourth place and secure a Champions League slot next season.

Goals:

City: Adebayor 40, Kompany 45+1

Booked:

City – De Jong

Portsmouth – Boateng, Basinas, Wilson

Attendance:

44,015