City started March in style, lifting the Capital One Cup at Wembley, before proceeding to win three of their four Barclays Premier League clashes.
The gutsy 10-man win over Hull at the KC Stadium, the 5-0 mauling of Fulham at the Etihad and the dominant 3-0 win over United were the stand-out moments for the team, but who were the individuals with the biggest influence over the March successes?
Here are the three contenders for the Etihad Player of the Month award...
David Silva
Clearly flourishing in his new central “no.10” role in behind the main striker, David Silva is another player who has enjoyed a March to remember.
Nominated for the award in February, David has stepped up a level even by his own stratospheric standards this month, to produce a string of mesmeric performances.
Silva’s beautiful long-range curler against Hull City straight after Vincent Kompany’s red card set the tone for a defiant victory against the odds; he ran the show in the Manchester derby and was arguably the best player on the pitch again in the Blues’ 1-1 draw against Arsenal at the Emirates.
Will David win his first Etihad Player of the Month award since September 2011? The power is in your hands.
Martin Demichelis
A bedrock in the City defence which broke a club Premier League record for most consecutive clean sheets this month, there’s no doubt that the Argentine centre-back deserves to be a contender for Player of the Month.
City’s five consecutive shut-outs owed much to the 33-year old defender, not least in the 2-0 win at the KC Stadium in which Martin had to roll up his sleeves and strike up an improvised partnership with Javi Garcia to defy the Tigers.
Demichelis was also instrumental in shackling Juan Mata and Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford and he also helped City to ride out the storm which followed Arsenal’s equaliser at the Emirates.
It’s his first nomination for the award since joining the club in the summer but does Martin get your vote?
Yaya Toure
His stunning equaliser against Sunderland at Wembley inspired City to a first League Cup success in 38 years, his first hat-trick for the club set the tone for the Blues’ one-sided win over Fulham and his late strike at Old Trafford underlined his team’s dominance over their neighbours.
We couldn’t compile a list of top March performers without the inclusion of Yaya Toure.
The Ivorian played all but 70 minutes of seven games in the last month and scored five times to take his tally to 21 for the season and 52 for the club in total.
Will it be two in a row and three this season for Yaya? You decide.
The poll closes at 5pm, Wednesday 9 April and don’t forget that one lucky UK voter will get to present the prize to the winning player in person at Carrington - plus one overseas winner will receive a personal video message. Vote now.
