ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester City 3 Everton 1
LONDON • Manchester City did not have things completely their way against Everton so in emerging with the 3-1 Premier League win, the champions illustrated why they remained title favourites despite losing top spot last Saturday.
They also leapfrogged Liverpool to become leaders again until, at the very least, Manchester United visit Anfield today.
Everton arrived at the Etihad yesterday as the only side not to lose at City's home ground in the two league outings since Pep Guardiola took over in 2016, but left with the record shredded.
City did this by retaining the relentlessness that steamrollered most opponents and that finally wore the visitors' resistance down.
Guardiola made four changes from their midweek Champions League win over Hoffenheim, bringing in Fabian Delph, Riyad Mahrez, Fernandinho and Kyle Walker.
The City boss also resisted starting Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero, despite the duo recovering from their respective injuries.
11
League matches Gabriel Jesus has gone scored in since August, a total of 487 minutes and 18 shots without netting.
Fears in recent weeks that City lack a natural predator in front of goal in the absence of Aguero were quashed by two fine finishes from Gabriel Jesus, who had previously scored only one league goal in 13 games this season.
Having not netted in City's past five games, the Brazil forward was delighted to break his scoring duck, saying: "I'm so happy with the game and with the win. This season is more difficult for me because other clubs are stronger.
"This game was difficult so I am happy. The game was amazing."
Teammate Bernardo Silva was equally thrilled with his side's response after last weekend's defeat at Chelsea, which ended their unbeaten league run, telling reporters: "We are happy especially as we knew we were playing a very tough team. To get the three points is very good."
With temperatures approaching freezing in Manchester, City were nearly caught cold by an early Everton break when Richarlison fired the first big chance of the game over from Lucas Digne's cross.
The Toffees, however, played a big part in their own downfall as Jesus opened the scoring midway through the first half.
Yerry Mina's hopeful punt gave away possession and the defender then played Jesus onside as the latter ran onto Leroy Sane's pass to fire low past Jordan Pickford.
Guardiola's men had to wait just five minutes after the break to make it 2-0, when a patient build-up again found Sane on the left and the Germany winger's cross was met by a bullet header from Jesus.
Marco Silva's players had barely offered any threat in the second period but they got a lifeline 25 minutes from time after Dominic Calvert-Lewin's header flicked off Delph and past the helpless goalkeeper Ederson.
Guardiola responded by sending on Raheem Sterling for Sane and in a week in which the England forward spoke out bravely about the alleged racist abuse he suffered last weekend at the hands of Chelsea fans, he also made his mark on the field by scoring immediately.
Jesus was involved again as he freed Fernandinho, who picked out Sterling to head home for his ninth league goal of the term.
De Bruyne then made his first appearance since Nov 1 - just his fourth in the league this term - after being sidelined by two separate knee injuries and his return will be an early Christmas present ahead of Liverpool's league visit on Jan 3.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, THE GUARDIAN
Football: Hougang United lose two-goal lead twice to draw 3-3 with 10-man Tampines Rovers. Tampines Rovers and Hougang United players in action during their Singapore Premier League match at Our
Football: Hougang United lose two-goal lead twice to draw 3-3
Real Madrid have signed Serbia striker Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt for 60 million euros ($67 million), television channel Sky Germany said on Thursday. Jovic, 21, scored 10 goals for the German side in their run to the Europa League semi-finals where they were knocked out by Chelsea on penalties and has netted 17 times in the Bundesliga.
Real Madrid sign Jovic for $97 million - report - msn.com
Sport > Football > European Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Malcom shines in Lionel Messi's absence as Philippe Coutinho struggles. Lucas Vazquez gave Real an early advantage but Malcom hit back for
The Straits Times - Breaking News, Lifestyle & Multimedia News
Everton avoided a third consecutive Premier League home defeat as Kurt Zouma's header and a late goal by Dominic Calvert-Lewin earned them a flattering 2-0 victory against Bournemouth at a rainy Goodison Park on Sunday.
Soccer: Everton ride luck for 2-0 home victory over Bournemouth
Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool vs West Bromwich Albion - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - December 13, 2017 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah in the net Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine Leaders Liverpool stumble, Chelsea collapse
Valencia coach Marcelino insists the pressure will be on Arsenal when his side take on the Gunners in the Europa League semi-finals. Toni Lato and Dani Parejo were on target for Los Che as they
Arsenal favourites for Europa League - Marcelino - msn.com
Chelsea passed another tough test in Europe after claiming a valuable away draw in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final tie against Eintracht Frankfurt. Luka Jovic gave the Bundesliga
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Chelsea - Europa League semi-final
Leicester axe Puel, target Rodgers as successor Wilfried Zaha scoring the second goal for Crystal Palace who beat Leicester 4-1 on Saturday. The Foxes dismissed manager Claude Puel after the club
Claude Puel sacked by Leicester as club target Brendan
Learn Spanish with Fluencia, the easiest way to learn Spanish from the creators of SpanishDict Explore SpanishDict We've combined the most accurate English to Spanish translations, dictionary, verb conjugations, and Spanish to English translators into one very powerful search box.
Contact Us | Axe
Ronaldo return looms large over Juve's European hopes
Nurmagomedov and McGregor both left the ring before the championship belt could be put around Nurmagomedov's waist, and fans in the pro-Conor crowd threw beers and debris at Nurmagomedov on his way out. White said he feared a melee in an arena if he awarded the belt to Nurmagomedov. "I don't even know what to say right now," White said.
Killua Zoldyck | Hunterpedia | FANDOM powered by Wikia
Football: Ikhsan Fandi the match-winner as Singapore Under-22s beat Thais 1-0 to capture Merlion Cup The Singapore U-22 team celebrating after they won the Merlion Cup, on June 9, 2019. ST PHOTO
Football: Ikhsan Fandi the match-winner as Singapore Under
Manchester - Pep Guardiola says Manchester City and Liverpool have raised the bar in what is required to win a Premier League title after a blockbuster campaign by both teams. If both sides win
Manchester City: Pep Guardiola explains why his side must
0 comments:
Post a Comment