• Manchester City 3-0 Stoke City, Premier League

City march above Arsenal with win

Joleon Lescott rises above Thomas Sorensen to score © PA Photos

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Tevez states desire to leave Manchester City
  
• News: Mancini expects Tevez to stay at City
  
• Profile: Carlos Tevez

Manchester City v Stoke City gallery

Manchester City climbed above Arsenal into third place in the Premier League with one game remaining following a comfortable 3-0 win over Stoke City at Eastlands.

Just three days after beating the same opposition to lift the FA Cup at Wembley, the home team were far too good for a Stoke side who offered little as an attacking force and could not counter the threat of Roberto Mancini's man.

Manchester City should have edged ahead inside 10 minutes but James Milner fired wide. The stalemate did not last long, as Milner turned provider for Carlos Tevez to open the scoring. The England international played in his captain, who beat a couple of players before firing past Thomas Sorensen.

A rare Stoke chance fell to John Carew, but Micah Richards was on hand to nod the effort wide.

A second came the home side's way on 54 minutes when Joleon Lescott headed home a cross from Adam Johnson.

The icing was put on the cake on 66 minutes when Tevez curled home a quite stunning free kick from 30 yards.

Stoke's capacity to raise their spirits for this game, just three days after suffering the crushing weekend disappointment had to be called into question.

Yet City too struggled to find any fluency, as if all their energy had been left in London despite the enormity of the prize on offer.

Milner did race onto an excellent pass from Tevez, which the South American flicked over his shoulder, but his volley was woefully wide, the quizzical looks at the referee which followed done more to save his own embarrassment.

Tevez decided it was time to get involved himself. Given the uncertainty over his future, this could yet turn out to be the 26-year-old's final game at Eastlands. If so, he marked the occasion in style.

Collecting Milner's return pass just inside the Stoke box, he nimbly stepped past Ryan Shawcross and Andy Wilkinson, two of the six men who retained their places from the weekend for the visitors, before cutting a superb shot into the far corner.

It was further proof that if Tevez does decide to move elsewhere, he will leave a king-size hole in Mancini's City squad that money alone will not necessarily be able to fill, no matter what status the world's richest club enjoy.

City toyed with their visitors after that. Milner and Toure both launched speculative efforts towards the visitors' goal without looking like adding to City's lead and Stoke's only response was an equally unlikely strike by Glenn Whelan that Joe Hart dealt with easily.

Tony Pulis at least galvanised his team into action at the start of the second period. But all hope was lost once City had gained a rather fortunate free-kick for a Danny Collins foul on Micah Richards.

Lescott evaded all attention, got in front of Sorensen as he jumped for Johnson's free-kick and had the easiest of tasks to nod home his second goal of the season.

Watching from the stands, Wigan boss Roberto Martinez could only hope Stoke will be in similarly lethargic mood at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday when they face that heart-stopping five-team battle for survival.

Substitute Edin Dzeko should have doubled his tally of Premier League goals instead of drilling a shot straight at Sorensen after muscling his way into the penalty area.

The difference between Dzeko and Tevez is clearly not just limited to size alone.

When Whelan brought down Nigel de Jong, the City skipper let fly with a quite magnificent curling free-kick that gave Sorensen no chance as it flew right into the top corner.

Dzeko struck the outside of a post from an acute angle, which again just highlighted how much City rely on Tevez.

A mad dash out of his goal to clear, and an equally frantic scramble back again ensured Hart's goal remained in tact, which confirmed another clean sheet and the Golden Glove prize.

But the highest goalscorer is the award that carries greater prestige, and Tevez would have gone in front of Dimitar Berbatov had he not clipped yet another free-kick narrowly over in the latter stages.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.