Yaya Toure at the double as Manchester City sound title warning
Bullish Manchester City skipper Vincent Kompany insisted that his side have a point to prove this season after starting their campaign with a crushing defeat of West Brom last night.
Kompany sealed City’s victory, which immediately fired Manuel Pellegrini’s charges to the summit of the Premier League, with a second-half header after Yaya Toure had taken centre stage with a double strike in the opening period.
The eventual Premier League champions in the last five seasons all started their campaigns on a Monday, and Kompany is adamant City’s first-game blitz represents a statement of intent.
“We have something to prove. Last season was below what we are used to. We are a team with great intent,” said Belgium centre-half Kompany, whose own form dipped last term as City endured a trophyless year.
“There are a lot of favoured teams now and we’re not part of it I’ve heard, so for us it was a good way to start our first game. That is something which gives us extra motivation. We came out here knowing we had a point to prove.
“Sometimes you get judged on how you finish a season and I think until November I was having a good season but in the end it didn’t matter because we didn’t win anything. I’m extremely hungry for more silverware.”
Kompany also talked up the importance of Sunday’s clash with defending champions Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, where victory would see City move five points clear of Jose Mourinho’s side.
“We definitely want to beat them,” he added. ”It will be a big game. We can’t go into it thinking that it’s about winning the league, but it will matter.”
Proceedings were only nine minutes old against the Baggies when Toure, having collected a pass from Spanish winger Jesus Navas, saw his deflected shot from outside the penalty area trickle over the line.
City doubled their lead quarter of an hour later when Toure powered a curling 18-yard effort beyond helpless West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill and into the top corner after a quick one-two with former Swansea hitman Wilfried Bony. A towering Kompany, goalless throughout the whole of last season, steered home a header from an acute angle following David Silva’s corner shortly before the hour mark, as City recorded their eighth successive victory against the Midlands outfit.
West Brom, meanwhile, blunt in attack against City, reinforced their forward line yesterday by splashing out a club record £12m for Venezuela striker Salomon Rondon from Russian side Zenit St Petersburg.