Football
9y

Yaya Toure pleased to help Man City to victory against Aston Villa

Yaya Toure said it felt "amazing" to score his first Premier League goal of the season and inspire Manchester City to a crucial 2-0 victory at Aston Villa.

Toure, 31, hit back at criticism of his early season form with a late goal to break Villa's resistance, before Sergio Aguero claimed a second at the death.

The Ivory Coast international reacted to critics of his displays by stating he is only human, then pledging to help City chase down league leaders Chelsea.

"I think it was amazing,'' Toure told Sky Sports of his goal. "If it was not me it would have been Aguero or Silva [to score]. The most important thing is for me to do my best. I'm keeping on going. I play for a top side in Europe and I'll just do my best to win things again this season.

"It's not so easy because you have to play every three days. I'm not a machine, I'm a man, but it's important to keep things going. I have great teammates around me, and the most important thing is to do my best.''

City's victory sustains pressure on Chelsea, who host Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Manuel Pellegrini's men were able to cut the Blues' Premier League lead to two points with victory at Villa Park.

"I think today was a great victory for us, because it was against a great team working very hard,'' said Toure. "The first half was quite difficult for us but in the second half we did the job. Full credit to Villa they played very well in defence but in the second half we did the job.''

Toure said he relishes any chance to push forward up the pitch for City, before predicting that it will be the usual suspects competing for the title once more this season.

"I think if the manager gives me possibility to play more in front I'm always delighted, but there's always a player on me so it's quite difficult," he said.

"We have a proper team, it's difficult for Liverpool at the moment, but they and Arsenal will be up there as well. From my point of view it will be the same as last year with the teams fighting it out.''

Toure's poor form has come after a difficult summer in which he voiced criticisms of the club and lost his brother to cancer.

Pellegrini insisted he never had any concerns about the player's state of mind and was always sure the influential midfielder would rediscover his dynamism.

Pellegrini said: "Yaya is an experienced player. He can be criticised for one or two weeks but I know perfectly the way he thinks and the way he can play, so I never had a problem about that.

"Yaya last season also played bad games, but he scored so many goals that everyone thought about that. We started the season and Yaya knows he must improve every game and he is trying to do it. I don't have any concern about him. He is one of the best midfielders, without any doubt.''

City were frustrated for long spells at Villa Park by the hosts' committed defending but Pellegrini felt the victory was deserved.

City had earlier hit the woodwork twice, through Aleksandar Kolarov and Aguero.

Pellegrini said: "I don't know if the word is relieved. We deserved to win before the goal. We had a lot of clear chances to score.

"I think we played the best game of the season in [terms of] possession, chances, the way we defended, intensity, the way we recovered the ball and the way we work.''

Pellegrini added on catching Chelsea: "Always the title will be decided by one or two points. We cannot do anything about Chelsea but we can do what we did today.''

The downside for City was the loss of midfielder Fernandinho, who limped off just before the hour mark and will now be assessed.

"We will see [on Sunday] with the doctor,'' Pellegrini said. "He has a problem with his hamstring.''

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