Johnson shoots City up to second

MANCHESTER, England -- Michael Johnson gave Manchester City a 1-0 home win over Aston Villa which sent Sven-Goran Eriksson's side up to second place in the Premier League.

The 19-year-old England Under-21 midfielder struck in the 49th minute to settle a far from distinguished game and send City to within a point of leaders Arsenal.

England defender Micah Richards was presented with the Premiership Player of the Month award before kick-off and had another impressive match.

Eriksson collected the August manager of the month trophy but will have had reservations about his side's latest victory.

Johnson wasted an early chance after good play from Brazilian Elano, the most creative player on view, and Darius Vassell headed wide.

Villa were equally impotent up front but Kasper Schmeichel's worrying uncertainty at crosses ensured the visitors had chances at set-pieces. Strikers John Carew and Luke Moore failed to capitalize.

Johnson, who scored his first senior league goal earlier this season after exchanging passes with Elano, again linked up with the Brazilian to good effect.

Johnson forced his way past Nigel Reo-Coker and Martin Laursen and into the Villa penalty area where he calmly slotted the ball past Scott Carson.

Villa hit back with headers from Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor before Zat Knight found the net only for the effort to be ruled out for offside..

Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre will miss the rest of the season after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury in the 1-0 win at Everton.

The 30-year-old went down after making a tackle during the first half at Goodison Park and was carried off.

A scan on Sunday confirmed United's worst fears and a club official confirmed that Silvestre would not play again for the remainder of the campaign.

It is a major blow for the former Inter Milan player, whose first team appearances have been limited by the good form of Patrice Evra. E-mail to a friend