The goalkeeper position in Manchester City has seen Joe Hart and Costel Pantilimon being switched out every week during this season. Pantilimon has had the upper hand in the spot for the past few weeks but Manuel Pellegrini decided to change it up and during their last Premier League encounter against Fulham, it was Joe Hart the man chosen to be in between the sticks.
This was Joe Hart’s first Premier League start since October as Pellegrini preferred to put upfront the Romanian goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon.
During this match against Fulham, Joe Hart conceived 2 goals but Manchester City managed to claim the crucial victory and snatch all 3 points. Despite having allowed 2 goals to be scored, neither of them was because of the English goalkeeper Joe Hart who enjoyed a fairly successful time being chosen ahead of Pantilimon.
Hart made a number of saves to deny Adel Taarabt from scoring as well as denying the rest of the Fulham players from finding the back of the net. When the match concluded Manuel Pellegrini even praised the performance from Joe Hart.
“I think he did well. It was not easy,” he said. “The pitch was very quick and there was a lot of wind but I think Joe had a very good game.”
“The Premier League games are always close, especially when home teams are in bad positions in the table as they try to win points at home,” he added. “We knew it would be difficult.
“Before they scored for 2-1, we had three or four chances to score and when you miss so many chances the other team often scores. We had some bad luck for their second goal, it was unbelievable, but it was important for us to recover.
Joe Hart still has a lot more to prove if he wants to get a permanent position as the main goalkeeper for Manchester City but this performance will surely make him a much more viable option and keep him in the race.