Manchester City have booked themselves a spot in the Champions League group stage by finishing third thanks to a 2-0 win at Bolton this afternoon.
Both sides had good chances early with Bolton squandering a few golden opportunities but it was City who looked more dangerous and they managed to go ahead just prior to the break when Joleon Lescott somehow headed home an Adam Johnson corner. The former Everton didn't know much about it but nonetheless the ball was in the back of the net for City.
Edin Dzeko made an immediate impact when he entered the fray just after the hour-mark, doubling City's lead when he was found by a beautiful David Silva through-ball. The Bosnian needed two attempts to get it past Jussi Jaaskelainen but succeeded in the end to notch up just his second Premier League goal.
About 15 minutes after the second goal, Dzeko was the subject of a strong challenge from Bolton loanee Daniel Sturridge who was shown a straight red card for the high tackle, reducing the home side to ten men, but the damage had already been done as City locked up third spot with their fifth win in their last six outings as the Trotters fell to 14th after suffering a fifth straight loss.
Bolton Wanderers: 0 Manchester City: 2 (Joleon Lescott 43', Edin Dzeko 62')
Venue: Reebok Stadium, Bolton Crowd: 26,285 Referee: Chris Foy Yellow cards:BW - Kevin Davies 13'
MANC - Carlos Tevez 22' Red card:BW - Daniel Sturridge 86'
Starting Line-Ups
Bolton Jussi Jaaskelainen (gk) - Paul Robinson, Zat Knight, Gary Cahill, Gretar Steinsson - Lee Chung-Yong (Klasnic 76'), Ricardo Gardner, Johan Elmander (Cohen 72'), Matthew Taylor (Rodrigo 76') - Daniel Sturridge, Kevin Davies
Subs - Adam Bogdan (gk), Tamir Cohen (72'), Ivan Klasnic (76'), Rodrigo (76'), Martin Petrov, David Wheater, Joshua Vela
Liverpool Joe Hart (gk) - Dedryck Boyata, Vincent Kompany, Joleon Lescott, Pablo Zabaleta (Wabara 88') - David Silva (Milner 79'), Nigel de Jong, Gareth Barry, Adam Johnson (Dzeko 61') - Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure
Subs - Shay Given (gk), Edin Dzeko (61'), James Milner (79'), Reece Wabara (88'), Shaun Wright-Phillips, Patrick Vieira, Mario Balotelli
