Negredo Saves Manchester City, First Win For Palace

[Folami David]

Alvaro Negredo came off the bench and scored for the second Premier League game running as Manchester City edged promoted Hull City 2-0 on Saturday.
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Manuel Pellegrini's side were labouring in the sunshine at the Etihad Stadium and endured several nervous moments before the former Sevilla striker made the breakthrough 20 minutes into the second half.
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A sumptuous last-minute free-kick from Yaya Toure settled matters, but after their shock 3-2 loss at promoted Cardiff City last weekend, City once again showed plenty of margin for improvement.
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"It was hard work. Every match is going to be hard work," said City manager Pellegrini.
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"Hull defended very well. We know you have to give 100 percent to win every match, but I think today that we were more concentrated in defence than the last game against Cardiff."
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City made two changes to their starting XI, with fit- again Matija Nastasic replacing Javi Garcia in central defence and Aleksandar Kolarov coming in for Gael Clichy at left-back, while Danny Graham took the place of suspended striker Yannick Sagbo for Hull.
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The visitors started brightly, with Sone Aluko wastefully dragging a shot wide after bursting clear in the eighth minute and Graham seeing a volley chalked off for offside.
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Pellegrini introduced new signing Negredo in place of the ineffective Edin Dzeko at halftime and the Spaniard almost made an immediate impact, only to completely miscue his header from David Silva's lofted pass.
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Negredo would not be denied, however, and in the 65th minute he broke the deadlock with a firm downward header from Pablo Zabaleta's floated right-wing centre.
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It had been an arduous afternoon for the 2012 champions, but Toure added sheen to the result by bending a 22-yard free-kick over the wall and in off the crossbar in the 90th minute.

[Shola Sholaz]

Manchester City as a team did very well for their fans in today's game...They gave it their all throughout 90 minutes!