African players week in Europe: Ivory Coast's Bony scores first goal for Man City
AFP, , Monday 23 Mar 2015


Ivory Coast star Wilfried Bony scored his first goal for Manchester City since a mid-season move from Swansea to trigger a 3-0 English Premier League win over West Bromwich.

Bony, who helped his country win the Africa Cup of Nations in February for the first time since 1992, pounced on a deflected pass at the weekend to score.

The 26-year-old joined defending champions City during January in a $43 million (37 million-euro) transfer.

England

Diafra Sakho (West Ham)

The Senegal forward netted the late goal that gave his side a much-needed 1-0 win over Sunderland at Upton Park. After seven games without a win, Sakho relieved the pressure on Hammers boss Sam Allardyce when he drove a clinical strike into the far corner in the 88th minute. It was his 12th goal of the season.

Wilfried Bony (Man City)

The Ivory Coast striker was in the thick of the action as his team got back on track with a 3-0 win against 10-man West Bromwich Albion at Eastlands. Bony was fouled by Albion's Craig Dawson in the second minute, an offence that referee Neil Swarbrick punished by mistakenly sending off Gareth McAuley instead. Swarbrick later admitted he had dismissed the wrong player, but by then City had cruised to a victory that kept the pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea. Bony delivered the most significant blow when he opened the scoring in the 27th minute, gathering a deflected pass from Fernando and hoisting a shot past West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill to claim his first goal in City's colours.

Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke)

The Senegal forward's goal was in vain as Crystal Palace hit back to win 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium. Diouf, a former Manchester United player, struck in the 14th minute when Charlie Adam's free-kick deflected into his path and he stabbed the ball past Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni for his 10th goal of the season.

Arouna Kone (Everton)

The Ivory Coast forward made just his fourth Premier League start of the season and helped his team to a much-needed 2-1 win at struggling QPR. After Everton bowed out of the Europa League with an embarrassing 5-2 defeat at Dynamo Kiev last Thursday, they returned to form to ease their relegation worries. Kone, who has only one goal to his name this season, delivered a solid display before coming off in the 79th minute.

Dame N'doye (Hull)

The Senegal striker played his part in a dramatic encounter as Chelsea won 3-2 at the KC Stadium. Jose Mourinho's league leaders roared into a two-goal lead inside nine minutes, but Hull hit back to equalise before half-time thanks to two goals in two minutes. N'Doye played the full 90 minutes, but couldn't add his fourth goal since his January move from Lokomotiv Moscow as Loic Remy's late winner for Chelsea left the Tigers mired in the relegation battle.

Italy

Molla Wague (Udinese)

Malian international Wague pounced on a header back into play following a poor Fiorentina clearance from a corner to give Udinese a 15th-minute lead with his second Serie A goal in only six appearances. It was a deserved goal in a balanced game, but the northerners had to settle for a share of the points thanks to Panagiotis Kone's leveller on the hour after a Mario Gomez brace had given Fiorentina a 2-1 lead.

Gervinho (Roma)

Gervinho has come in for particular criticism on what has been a fruitless search for goals since his return from a triumphant Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast. Gervinho last hit the net in Serie A in November when he opened the scoring in a 4-2 win over Inter Milan. He showed glimpses of his best in a 1-0 win at Cesena, which ended their five-game winless run.

Samuel Eto'o (Sampdoria)

Eto'o may not be as fleet-footed as he used to be, but the well-travelled Cameroonian is adapting well to his position up front on the right alongside Luis Muriel and Eder. After Eder scored with a 65th minute free-kick, Eto'o launched a promising counter that saw Pedro Obiang’s effort being deflected over from six yards out. Sampdoria held on to seal a precious win that moved them up to surprise fourth, four points off third and the last Champions League qualifying place.

France

Max-Alain Gradel (Saint-Etienne)

The Ivory Coast winger was once again a pivotal influence for Saint-Etienne as they continued their push to qualify for a European place. As ever, the side's most consistent attacking threat, he took his tally to 10 goals for the season with a brace in the 63rd and 74th minutes of the 2-0 victory over Lille.

Andre Ayew/Jordan Ayew (Marseille/Lorient)

Both of the Ghanaian brothers got on the scoresheet at the weekend, but with very different outcomes. Andre hit Marseille's third in the 4-0 away hammering of Lens, while Jordan equalised for Lorient midway through the second half at the Parc des Princes but ended up on the losing side as two late strikes, almost inevitably from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to complete his hat-trick, saw Paris Saint-Germain run out 3-1 winners.

Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik (Toulouse)

The Cameroon defender was the toast of Toulouse as his 61st-minute winner gave the relegation-threatened club something to cheer about with a 2-1 victory over rivals Bordeaux in the south-west derby.

Nabil Dirar (Monaco)

The Morocco midfielder rounded off an impressive week for Monaco as they picked up where they had left off against Arsenal in the Champions League when he knocked in Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco's cross 11 minutes from the end to complete a 3-1 win at struggling Reims.

Germany

Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund)

The Gabon winger scored two of Borussia Dortmund's goals in their 3-2 win at Hanover, Dortmund's first in four games after goalless draws with Cologne and Hamburg before last Wednesday's 3-0 defeat at home to Juventus saw them bow out of the Champions League. Aubameyang has 12 goals in 25 league games as Dortmund's top scorer and his side are 10th in the table, but just five points from a top-six finish which carries a European place.

Joel Matip (Schalke 04)

The Cameroon centre-back went close with several chances in Schalke's 1-0 defeat at home to Bayer Leverkusen, which left them fifth in the table, but six points from a Champions League place. Matip squandered a clear second-half chance, but was powerless to prevent Leverkusen's Germany winger Karim Bellarabi scoring the 35th-minute winner.

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