Nasri Sees Red, but Manchester City Wins 4-3 Anyway: Norwich City Loses Again at Carrow Road

The pre-match ramblings of football pundits and supposed experts suggested that Manchester City would be challenged on the merit of Norwich City’s previous matches at home – even though the former’s away record is similar to the latter’s home record: before today’s match, Manchester City had won four, lost one, and drawn four away from Etihad Stadium; Norwich City had won five, lost two, and drawn two at Carrow Road.

I suppose that the additional win for Norwich City suggested to the visionaries and thinkers of football that Manchester City would falter as they did against Sunderland – or, as I imagine is most likely, the football analysts and commentators could not be bothered to do any research beyond that which they already know from their co-workers and mates.

Regardless, the final score at Carrow Road was 3-4 in favour of Manchester City. However, the trailing Champions of the Premier League were challenged – not on the merit of Norwich City’s previous matches at home, but by the fact that they were a man less for the entirety of the second half.

Essentially, the scene of the eventual red card featured players Samir Nasri of Manchester City and Sebastien Bassong of Norwich City. The score was 2-1 for the Champions, but in the 43^rd minute, Bassong tackled Nasri; the latter fell to the ground and writhed in pain for nearly seven seconds before jumping to his feet and pressing his forehead against Bassong’s in the sort of ridiculous, macho idiocy usually reserved for boxers at pre-fight conferences. Anyway, they bumped foreheads as they stared into each other’s eyes, but Nasri’s head flick was far quicker, marginally harder, and more pronounced than Bassong’s; as such, the former received a red card from the referee, and the first act ended. Exeunt omnes.

In terms of goals, the first was scored in the 2^nd minute of the match by Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko with the assistance of teammates David Silva and Sergio Aguero. In the 4^th minute, Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany slammed past a Norwich player with the ball and it eventually reached Aguero; he passed it to Dzeko and the Bosnian striker scored his second goal. Finally, Norwich City’s Anthony Pilkington scored in the 15^th minute on a free kick just outside of Manchester City’s box.

In the second half, Manchester City struggled to maintain their lead after Nasri had received a red card at the end of the first half. However, in the 50^th minute, Manchester City’s Yaya Toure launched the ball across the pitch to Aguero; the latter beat both defender and keeper to score. In the 63^rd minute, Norwich City’s Robert Snodgrass’s corner kick eventually led to a couple of headers: Bassong headed the ball to teammate Russell Martin; the latter headed the ball past goalkeeper Joe Hart to score. In the 67^th minute, Dzeko kicked the ball at goalkeeper Mark Bunn; it smacked the latter’s hand and flew into the net. Finally, in the 75^th minute, Manchester City’s box was a muddling of blue and yellow that ended with Martin scoring his second and final goal of the match.

Ultimately, Manchester City is in second place with forty-two points – still seven less than Manchester United; Norwich City is still in eleventh place with twenty-five points – the same as Liverpool, but that may change if the latter defeat Queens Park Rangers tomorrow.