Broken Hart-ed: Joe Hart faces Man City axe

JOE HART is facing the axe at Manchester City following his latest horror show.

It's behind you! Joe Hart's clanger against Chelsea is the final straw for Manuel Pellegrini [STUART ROBINSON]
 

The calamity keeper was humiliated again after gifting Chelsea a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Hart charged out of his box but missed the ball in a mix-up with Matija Nastasic to let in Fernando Torres for the winner.

It is the latest gaffe in a long line of blunders that will see the England star dropped as City's No.1 keeper.
Boss Manuel Pellegrini is fuming with Hart and refused to back him following his latest mistake.

Now Pellegrini will drop Hart for tomorrow's Capital One Cup clash at Newcastle and replace him with Costel Pantilimon.

Pellegrini could make a move for a new goalkeeper in the January transfer window [ACTION IMAGES/JED LEICESTER]

“Pellegrini will drop Hart for tomorrow's Capital One Cup clash at Newcastle and replace him with Costel Pantilimon”

The Chilean had pencilled in Pantilimon for the trip to St James' Park anyway after picking him in City's win over Wigan in the previous round.

But Starsport understands Pellegrini has told Pantilimon that he will retain his place if he impresses.
It means Hart is facing the humiliation of no longer being Pellegrini's first-choice keeper at the Etihad.
Hart looks set to finally pay the price for some high-profile errors in 2013.

He has dropped nine clangers this year for club and country and Pellegrini has finally lost patience, having given him the benefit of the doubt up until now.

Costel Pantilimon knows he has a chance to usurp Joe Hart for good after being given the nod for tomorrow's game against Newcastle [MIKE HEWITT/GETTY IMAGES] 
 

To make matters worse, Hart is also facing a battle to hold on to his England place.
Despite helping the Three Lions secure World Cup qualification, Hart is coming under increasing pressure from Fraser Forster.

The Celtic star has been in top form this season and England boss Roy Hodgson could now hand him his debut in next month's friendly against Chile at Wembley.
Hodgson is keen to assess his options ahead of Brazil 2014 and wants to see if Forster can step up.