Carlos Tevez scored his first Manchester City hat-trick as they went fourth in the English Premier League table with a 4-1 win over Blackburn Rovers at Eastlands here on Monday. Victory meant City maintained their perfect record under Italian manager Roberto Mancini with their fourth straight success, even if they did concede their first goal under the former Inter Milan boss when Morten Gamst Pedersen scored for Rovers to make it 3-1.
But the match belonged to Argentina's Tevez who was in brilliant form as he made it 11 goals in his last nine games. The former Manchester United striker opened the scoring in the seventh minute and, after Micah Richards's superb second, Tevez struck two expert curling shots, the second in stoppage time, to seal City's win. City are now just seven points behind leaders Chelsea and the big-spenders, backed by their billionaire Abu Dhabi-based owner Sheikh Mansour, could yet have a big influence on the destiny of this season's title.
By contrast, defeat left Rovers just three points above the relegation zone with all the teams below them having games in hand. Mancini, while pleased with the victory, was "angry" at seeing City concede a sloppy goal which came from a poor first touch by Vincent Kompany after goalkeeper Shay Given cleared a back-pass. "It was a good night for us. The players played very well in this match," Mancini told ESPN. "Carlos Tevez played very, very well. All the team concentrated for 90 minutes but I'm angry because we conceded a goal. Our gift. I think it's most important we stay focussed all the time.
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