Birthday boy Tevez keeps City in hunt

THIS most unpredictable of Premier League seasons did not disappoint on Saturday, even if Manchester City were able to record a most routine of victories which returned them to the thick of the title contest.

A 19-minute first-half hat-trick from Carlos Tevez was more than enough for City to shake off some indifferent recent form and record three points which, when allied with events in Newcastle, at Wolves and at London yesterday, made this an extremely productive afternoon for the world’s wealthiest club.

Better yet for City, Saturday sees them travel to Old Trafford for an eagerly-awaited Manchester derby in which victory would haul them to within two points of the league leaders, albeit having played a game more.

Still, City coach David Platt was understandably downplaying the magnitude of the pending derby, claiming that even a win for his club at Old Trafford would fail to unsettle a United team which was handed its first league defeat of the season at Molineux late on Saturday.

“They do need to lose two or three more games but I think it would be false hope to think that we can go to Manchester United, beat them, and then the wheels are going to fall off a team that has been there, seen it, done it, how many times?” said Platt.

“The hope is we amass enough points to take advantage of any slip up that they have. But it would be a hope rather than an expectation.

“I don’t think if we go to Old Trafford and win, there would be any hangover in that Old Trafford dressing room.”

Platt, part of an experienced coaching staff under Roberto Mancini which also features Brian Kidd, has watched on while the City manager has, at various times, publicly written off the club’s title aspirations.

However, claims Platt, the Italian has never ceased from attempting to convince the players that first place is attainable — an approach which appears to be paying dividends as the season heads towards its most crucial phase.

“What Robbie does is he wears you down and he convinces you — he has this great belief that we can win every football match,” added Platt. “He just thinks if there are 13 games left there are 39 points and that’s what you go for.

“Players buy into that. No one has turned around and set any objectives where they say, ‘We can win the league if we win the next 13 games.’ No one has said that. But he believes that this team can go out and win every match they are involved in.”

As long as City can call upon Tevez, then Mancini is correct in his assertion that anything is possible.

His hat-trick against Albion, on the occasion of his 27th birthday, means that the Argentinian talisman has scored in 25 different league games in his season and a half at Eastlands — of which City have won 23 and drawn two, a quite remarkable statistic.

Tevez hit the post after only three minutes but made no mistake from a 16th minute penalty, awarded for a trip by Steven Reid on Aleksandar Kolarov.

His second goal came five minutes later and followed a clever one-two with teammate David Silva which allowed Tevez to advance and comfortably beat Albion goalkeeper Boaz Myhill.

After Kolarov had struck the crossbar, Tevez completed his hat trick 10 minutes before the interval — taking his season tally to 20 goals — with another penalty after Jerome Thomas had handled in the West Brom area.

For Albion, winners in just one of their last nine league games, relegation appears an increasingly likely prospect despite their encouraging start to the campaign.

Home games with relegation rivals West Ham and Wolves — what a Black Country derby that promises to be — will surely have a significant impact on whether or not they survive and played a major part in the decision to sack Roberto Di Matteo yesterday.

Di Matteo clearly had little inkling the axe was about the fall and was looking forward to those games against west Ham and Wolves on Saturday night.

“They are vital games, we know that,’’ said the Italian.

“We need to win, we have to win. But we still have everything to play for. It’s very tight and there are a lot of clubs involved. We have to pick ourselves up. We need to show togetherness, fight for the cause and not forget what our strength is.”

Sadly for Di Matteo, the Baggies won’t be bouncing back under his stewardship.