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LONDON -- Manchester City took charge of the Premier League title race as Edin Dzeko and Yaya Toure scored first-half goals to secure a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday. Angel Pagan Orange Jersey . A couple of hours after leader Liverpool lost 2-0 against Chelsea at home, City cut its deficit to the Reds to three points with one game in hand. If they win their three remaining matches and keep their superior goal difference, Citys players would be crowned champions. "It was a happy day and it was very important for us," City manager Manuel Pellegrini said. "Before today we were depending on other teams. Now we continue as we were two weeks ago, depending only on what we do. But its not finished, we have to play three games more. We will see in the future who will be the best." City will play at Everton on Saturday and could knock Liverpool off its perch on goal difference before the Reds play at Palace the next Monday. "It was very important not to be thinking about the result of Chelsea vs. Liverpool," Pellegrini said. "We just needed to concentrate on ourselves, and the players did it in a very professional way, knowing that if we beat Crystal Palace we would have our future in our hands." Having recovered from a thigh problem, Toure made a spectacular return to competition in a stellar man of the match display, setting up Dzekos opener in the fourth minute with a precise cross that the striker headed home. The powerful midfielder then started and concluded a superb collective move two minutes before halftime with a curling effort. Toure has scored 19 league goals this season and his return is a massive boost to Citys ambitions. "To be honest, we were looking a little bit at the Liverpool vs. Chelsea game," Toure said. "It was a tricky game but we did well. We have just three games left and we want to focus on winning those." After Liverpools earlier slip-up, City players got off to the best possible start at Selhurst Park as the returning Toure crossed for Dzeko, who jumped between two defenders and headed past Julian Speroni from close range to open the scoring. Undeterred by the goal and having secured their topflight status last weekend, Palace put on an attacking display as Yannick Bolasie created danger on both flanks and Cameron Jerome caused havoc in Citys central defence. Palaces first real chance came in the 18th minute when Jason Puncheon tried his luck from the edge of the box but his effort was too weak for City keeper Joe Hart. Still, Pellegrinis team looked in control and City captain Vincent Kompany had a superb chance to double the title contenders lead a few minutes later but his powerful header from close range from Samir Nasris corner ended just wide. The game toughened up toward the end of the first half and referee Howard Webb had to show yellow cards to Damien Delaney and Pablo Zabaleta before Samir Nasri received treatment following a contact with Puncheon. Toure then turned from provider to scorer two minutes before the interval by finishing off a superb move he initiated on the halfway line. The Ivory Coast international played a one-two with Dzeko then passed the ball to Nasri, with the Frenchman putting it back into his path before Toure imposed his physical strength in the area and slotted home. Palace was on the front foot at the start of the second half, with Hart forced to a dive down to his right to deny Puncheons effort. But Tony Pulis players were too often wasteful with their final pass. Chamakh was among the culprits, ignoring Puncheon on his right before misfiring a long pass toward Bolasie. Jerome then wasted a superb pass from Chamakh in the back of the City defence as he took too much time after a heavy first touch. Toure was applauded by fans from both teams as he was replaced by Fernandinho after 65 minutes while Pulis tried to reinvigorate his team with the introduction of Glenn Murray and Dwight Gayle. The move did not pay off and City kept creating the best chances -- with Sergio Aguero and James Milner combining well down the right flank before Palace keeper Julian Speroni saved Dzekos deflected effort with his leg -- as Palaces record-equaling run of five consecutive Premier League wins was brought to an abrupt end. "I dont think the players played at their maximum today," Pulis said. "And the Chelsea result before the game gave City a massive boost. The players should not worry about that too much." Sergio Romo Authentic .B. -- Canadas Rachel Homan had ideal preparation for the playoffs at the Ford World Curling Championships with a pair of hard-fought wins over tenacious opponents Thursday. Joe Panik Authentic . "Our level of work has to go up," said Carlyle on Thursday. "Weve stated that and weve (told) our players that the message is going to start to be delivered in a different manner if were not going to get the results that were looking for.ABBOTSFORD, B.C. - Olivier Roy made 24 saves as the Abbotsford Heat beat the Charlotte Checkers 7-1 in American Hockey League action Tuesday. Roy was making his first start with the Heat and was seven minutes away from his first career AHL shutout. The 22-year-old was acquired by the Calgary Flames from the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 8, but was immediately assigned to their ECHL affiliate Alaska before his call up when Joey MacDonald suffered a concussion last week. When Joni Ortio was recalled to the Flames on Sunday to replace the injured Kari Ramo, Roy got his chance to start. Corban Knight had a goal and two assists to lead the way offensively. Max Reinhart and Markus Granlund had a goal and an assist, while Josh Jooris, Blair Jones, Ben Street and Carter Bancks also scored for Abbotsford (30-14-4). The Heat have now won three straight and are 4-0-2 in their past six games. With the win they move into a tie for first in the Western Conference with Grand Rapids. John Muse allowed four first-period goals on just 12 shots before Mike Murphy relieved him, making 24 saves for Charlotte (22-22-1) Philippe Cornet scored the lone Checkers goal. The Heat opened the scoring at 4:29 of the first. Jooris finished off a great Heat possession, one-timing a pass from Corey Locke in the high slott off the post and in, beating Muse glove side. Dave Dravecky Orange Jersey. . Its the third straight game Jooris has scored. Roy made a big save just shy of the eight-minute mark while the Checkers were killing a penalty. Chris Terry cut to the front of the net from the corner and tried to wrap the puck around Roys right pad, but the 2009 fifth-round choice stretched out his leg to cover the far post, keeping his team up by one. Reinhart scored at 8:54 on the same power play to make it 2-0. Granlund fed it to Knight, who quickly found Reinhart backdoor for the one-timer. The Heat chased Muse from the crease with two goals in 28 seconds. First, Jones one-timed Derek Smiths set up from the left face-off dot on the power play. Then Bancks collected Lane MacDermids rebound before backhanding home a goal. Granlund scored another power-play goal, taking a loose puck in the slot and whipping one past Murphy at 8:17 of the third to give him his team-leading 20th goal of the season. Two minutes later Knight deflected Smiths point shot past Murphy to make it 6-0. Cornet broke Roys shutout bid with seven minutes to go after he one-timed Victor Rasks centring feed just inside the post. Street scored his 18th of the season, one-timing Brett Olsons set up at 14:54 to restore the six-goal cushion. cheap jerseys from china cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
