Manchester City emerged from a rollercoaster game at QPR with victory and their five point Premier League lead intact.
The Blues looked jaded from the start and QPR's high tempo was rewarded when Jay Bothroyd headed in.
Edin Dzeko's superbly taken goal just before the break got City back on level terms before a touch of class from David Silva saw Roberto Mancini's men ahead.
Neil Warnock's QPR kept pushing forward though and scored an equaliser when Bothroyd's header deflected in off Heidar Helguson.
City had the final say when Aleks Kolarov's excellent cross from the left was headed in powerfully by Yaya Toure.
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With old boys Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joey Barton keen to do well, QPR put the Blues on the back foot early.
Helguson turned a Barton corner back across goal but just out of Anton Ferdinand's reach.
Joe Hart was forced to parry a thunderous Jamie Mackie effort away as City struggled to cope without suspended skipper Vincent Kompany.
Not once during their flying start to the domestic campaign have City found themselves behind.
Just before the half hour, it finally happened.
Mancini could not be happy with the ease of QPR's goal either.
Barton sent a decent free-kick into the visitors' box but Bothroyd simply climbed highest in a crowded penalty area and sent a firm header into the bottom corner. Television replays showed Lescott and skipper Micah Richards swapped who they were marking just before the free-kick was taken, and the confusion cost City.
The Blues were rocking and Bothroyd came agonisingly close to grabbing a second when Helguson seized on a stray pass and picked the striker out with an excellent cross to the far post.
Bothroyd met it well enough, but the one-time England international could only turn away in despair as his header clipped the outside of a post.
It seemed City were there for the taking.
But, like the champions they hope to become, they rallied quickly enough to haul themselves level before half-time.
James Milner started it with a surge downfield from inside his own half.
Goal
He released the previously subdued Dzeko, who cut inside Luke Young and thrashed a shot into the bottom corner, his 10th Premier League goal of the season.
And City weren't finished there, with Sergio Aguero's well-struck effort bouncing back off the base of a post to provide QPR with a warning they would not even collect a point easily.
If they thought a fine Barton shot that brought a sprawling save out of Hart straight after the restart would be a sign of things to come, they were sadly mistaken.
Forced off by a back injury during the Champions League win over Villarreal in midweek, Silva had returned to duty but not made much of an impression.
That was until Dzeko picked up out with a low cross from the left touchline.
The Spain star's next move had a touch of genius about it, even though it was so simple.
As the QPR defence waited for a lay-off or even a dummy, Silva attacked the ball at pace, getting him away from Danny Gabbidon but with enough room in front of Ferdinand to blast home a fine goal.
It seemed QPR were doomed. But they rallied admirably, and after Barton had gone close, Bothroyd met Armand Traore's cross and his goalbound header bounced in off Helguson.
Once again, Loftus Road was alive with the electricity of fans who believed a famous win was on the cards.
But City had no time for such dreams.
Calmly, Kolarov strode down the left flank, then picked out Toure with a superb curling cross that invited a powerful headed finish.
Helguson so nearly levelled near the end but it was the Blues celebrating once more at the end as they maintained their winning habit.
What is your verdict on the game? Have your say.
QPR 2 Manchester City 3
November 05, 2011
Comments
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Tricky tricky match. We were under pressure but three quality goals saw us through, phew.
Another 3pts; good display from the lads.
It showed our mental strength to hang in and compete. It's games likes these that win championships.
We now have the international break and then get ready for Newcastle.
Now I go to bed: gently pissed.
WELL DONE BLUES & BOBBI -
A well hard fought victory - even when we are down on posession we still fight for the win....
I have been one to slate Edin...but he ran his heart out today ..
God we missed Vinny !!!!!!!!!! YAYA WAS AWSOME !!
Savic is still to learn his trade...Im surprised Barton was quiet today...
Milner has again stepped to the mark...I think Bobbi has put his faith in him and its repaying now...
AVANTI BOBBI
LGHU !!
CITY FOR LFE !!
We are at the stage now when we can play badly and win. It felt like they were deliberately holding back. Had they gone at Rangers they could have had any number. Fair to say Savic struggled. Dzeko is a conundrum, some bad touches, anonymous at times & then BANG, a goal & a lovely assist. A real beauty from Yaya. Like an old Tommy Lawton goal. The people complaining about him a week ago - go stand in the corner with your dunces hats on.
You can't take the lions anywhere without them tearing up the place.
WELL DONE LADS ANOTHER THREE POINTS AND ANOTHER THREE GOALS,BRING ON THE GEORDIES.................HAPPY DAYS.
Just as against united, motivation + class beat motivation. By the way, should have been 2-4 as Silva MUST play that ball to Dzeko...
3 goals 3points, bring on the Geordies!
Great win. I knew it was going to be the hardest place. Wish we could play the Trafford Town Girls every week.
Cant play beautiful football every week. A good test, a good win.
QPR, played out of there skins and took us by surprise, but class shown though in the end. We dug deep and won with 3 class goals, a little different to our neighbours, who hung on and won by an own goal.
We are lookng like champions alright.
Wow !! Fantastic win. Tremendous character from everyone playing to come from behind to win and then being pegged back to 2-2. Credit it to QPR they made it tough but this City team has tremendous will to win as well as awesome quality.
Wow !! Fantastic win. Tremendous character from everyone playing to come from behind to win and then being pegged back to 2-2. Credit it to QPR they made it tough but this City team has tremendous will to win as well as awesome quality.
Ok we can play much better than that defensivly but the important thing was the team kept going and we got those sweet sweet precious 3 points. QPR i think deserved a draw from that, thought SWP looked very confident, but it was great to see the lads keep at it and in the end our 3 goals came from that extra quality - considering we flew back from Spain in the early hours of Thursday it was a fantastic result.
Milner was MOTM for me but boy did we miss Kompany today. Savic looked like what he is - young and inexperienced - and to be honest i would rather have seen Kolo in there.
On a side note Id just like to congratulate David Silva for not accepting Bartons pathetic attempt at banter (ruffling the hair, high five and into the funhouse etc) after what was a disgraceful challenge on 80 minutes. From what i saw he seemed to think Silva was a rugby ball and he was going for a last minute conversion, how is charging in from behind and cleaning a player out through the back of the knees not a straight red??? Could have been a bad injury from that but luckily Merlin proved once again that he is as tough as his old coach told us he was. Sublime world class touch as well when he scored the second...................
Well done again to the boys who says who you cant win em all !, to be fair we havent really played any of the big teams yet have we ?
I hate to say it but City remind me of our 2008 double winning team. They have so many different match-winners on the pitch it's a case of 'when' rather than 'if' they score in most of their games. Aguero, Dzeko, Silva, Nasri, Milner, Balotelli... all capable of winning games on their own. A good win against a team that defeated Chelsea.
someone said yesterday that yaya toure couldn't head the ball!!
Undoubtedly the sign of Champions, playing rubbish, but still picking up the points.
Defence seems ultra rocky without Kompany, why was Hart drop-kicking every goal-kick? this actually piled on unnecessary pressure on ourselves, as the ball kept coming back.
Savic certainly needs more games to reach the standard required at this level .
QPR played the ball out of defence more than us, which was so unusual. Our Midfield went missing today, as they dominated the middle and orchestrated all their attacks from there. Should have been an ideal game for NDJ. Anyway, can't be too critical eh ! fantastic goals as usual !
Onward we march !
This Game was Testimony of a mark of true Championship Contenders - The will to win
Great result if not performance as Q.P.R. are a good side at home. Remember Blues we can't play Trafford Town Trash every week.
Toughest game of the season so far. Too pedestrian for most of the game and didn't close them down quick enough. Very unsure at the back - missed Komps badly. This was definately a game we would have lost this time last year, so now very resilliant.
On the upside, three more points and these are the type of games we have to win to lift that title.
Onwards and upwards. CTID.
Milner MOM, Lescott stood up. Enough quality in the right areas to score from limited possession. A good 3 points but enough to confirm the season has a long way to go.The likes of Stoke will lok on with interest at how the back 4 did against an high ball attack. Richards - seemed to ball watxh for the second goal.
Doubt he will even be discussed in this thread, as Dzeko, Silva and Toure will get all the glory, but what an unbelievable job JAMES MILNER did FOR THE TEAM today. Also, given a few less greedy touches from our frontline, he could have even scored a few today.
Milner and Barry are the type of player that ALLOW us to have the luxury of playing so expansively. BOTH are regularly unsung heroes and I, for one, want to acknowledge the contribution they are making to the record breaking goal scoring we are providing.
Nice debut from Savic in a very difficult game. Helguson learned to jump from Shearer...early and with your arm on the opponent's shoulder, but he did it very well, causing lots of problems.
One last word......Adam Johnson, watch the video and SEE FOR YOURSELF what Mancini is talking about! 'Nuff said! How AJ gets on the field as a wide player before Balotelli OR Nasri is a mystery to me, especially on such a narrow pitch.
For me, in January, snatch the hand off the first person who is willing to pay £18M+, spend it on another James Milner/Gareth Barry-type player who will go hard for 90 minutes and trade Tevez for Lavezzi. Sorted!
Nice way to grind out a victory, lads!
Wow, Nail biting stuff. thought the team struggled to get to terms with the small pitch and the crowd. I don't think booing and whistling at the away team every time they are on the ball shows a lot of class by rangers fans. They will get more respect from our fans when they come back to the eithad. Hard fought but 3 points is 3 Points, thought Dzeko had some superb moments.