LONDON — It has happened at last. In game No 434 of the English Premier League season, a goal was decided by the Hawk-Eye technology that cost each team £250,000 (S$523,372) this year to install, a cumulative price of more than US$8 million (S$10.2 million).

When Edin Dzeko struck his shot in the 14th minute on Saturday, it appeared to the naked eye that Cardiff City defender Kevin McNaughton had cleared it in the nick of time. But seconds later, a signal beeped on referee Neil Swarbrick’s wristwatch and in his earpiece.

GOAL! And less than half a minute later, the majority of the 47,213 fans in City’s Etihad Stadium were joyously celebrating as the big screen lit up with confirmation that their team were indeed a goal ahead.

The spectators there, and those watching around the world, could see the computer graphic of that ball a foot or so across the line.

The irony was that if there is any team that does not need technological enhancement to put the ball in the net, it is City.

Dzeko’s goal was the 100th that City have scored with just over half the season gone. More goals, from Jesus Navas, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero, made it 4-2 against a plucky, but plucked, Cardiff. With a grand total of 103 goals in 34 games so far for the season, City have hit the century mark in all competitions faster than any other club in Premier League history.

“And we’re not done yet,” Dzeko said on camera the moment the game, City’s 11th straight home win in league play, was over. “We have more than 20 games to go yet, and we try to win every game.”

Try, they must, because Arsenal, 2-0 winners over Fulham on Saturday, are still setting the pace in the Premiership, one point ahead of City.

Arsenal’s victory, courtesy of two very fine goals by their Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla, confirms that at least two teams in the English league are prepared to play for goals.

That sounds like such a perfectly logical philosophy, but while many talk of liberating players to score, coaches such as Manuel Pellegrini at City and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal actually dare to go for it.

Unlike his predecessor Roberto Mancini, Pellegrini’s philosophy is attack, attack, attack — a 4-4-2 formation, going forward, going for the goal, and invariably with four players going into the opponent’s penalty box in search of goals.

It appears almost unfair that technology was decisive with Dzeko’s goal as Cardiff complained that the ball had gone out earlier and was handled by David Silva in the build-up.

The referee, though wired up, appeared to have seen neither.

So while science is imperfect, the skills expressed by City leave little to doubt. THE NEW YORK TIMES

Saturday’s results:

Sunderland 2 Southampton 2

Arsenal 2 Fulham 0

Crystal Palace 1 Stoke 0

Manchester City 4 Cardiff City 2

Norwich 1 Hull City 0

West Ham 1 Newcastle 3

Liverpool 2 Aston Villa 2