adminLONDON. — The irony of this weekend is that on the day Manchester City cut Chelsea lead in the Premier League to three points, it could be the beginning of the end of their challenge.
As Chelsea’s 3 000-plus travelling fans were making their way back south, wallowing in the unfamiliar sensation of defeat, phones would have lit up and hearts would have been lifted by the news coming in from Manchester.
For at the Etihad Stadium, Sergio Aguero was hobbling from the field in tears. The deadly Argentine striker, who has scored an incredible 19 goals in 20 matches this season, was clearly in agony — you could tell simply from the grimace on his face.
Slowly, the news emerged that every Manchester City fan had feared. Suspected knee ligament damage, MRI scans this week, the possibility of their talisman on the sidelines for weeks, maybe months.
So on the day City trimmed Chelsea’s lead at the Premier League summit to just three points, finally breathing new life into the title race, a potential disaster.
As Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville tweeted: “If Aguero’s injury is a bad one then this could be the weekend Chelsea won the league!”
While we won’t know for certain about the extent of Aguero’s injury until the middle of the week — though he will certainly miss their make-or-break Champions League trip to Roma — we do know that City have been adversely affected before by his absence.
The reality is that Aguero has become an even more talismanic figure this season. It is not just his remarkable goalscoring run that has pretty much kept City in contention both at home and in Europe, but the astonishing work rate and creativity that sets up goals for others.
If the worst fears are realised and Aguero is ruled out for the pivotal and congested Christmas and New Year fixture list, the burden will fall heavily on City’s other stars. Most have not yet reached the heights of last year.
Their first test will come in the cauldron of the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday night as City try to prolong their European campaign beyond Christmas.
But if Aguero is sidelined for a while, City’s next challenge is to find a way of compensating for the lost goals he would have provided.
Meanwhile, England forward Andy Carroll scored twice in West Ham United’s 3-1 victory over Swansea City yesterday that lifted the London club to third in the Premier League.
The injury-prone Carroll, without a goal since March, headed West Ham level just before half-time after Wilfried Bony had put Swansea ahead against the run of play.
Carroll scored again early in the second half with another dominant header before top scorer Diafra Sakho lashed home a third as West Ham, one of this season’s surprise packages, registered their third successive league victory.
Swansea had goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski sent off after 68 minutes for impeding Sakho.
West Ham have 27 points, one ahead of fourth-placed Southampton and two clear of fifth-placed Manchester United who face each other today. — Mailonline/AP.
Online Reporter