Runaway Man City streaks to No. 17
Calendar-year goals record in reach after clearing 100 by shutting out Bournemouth
LEICESTER, ENGLAND— Perhaps Jose Mourinho should have listened to the advice from Manchester United’s crosstown rivals.
That’s the unbeaten Manchester City team now 13 points clear at the top of the English Premier League.
A week ago, City players were filmed in their dressing room celebrating their latest victory by singing “park the bus,” mocking the term for Mourinho’s propensity to grind out results by stifling opponents with an unambitious setup.
Which was just what United required in the closing moments at Leicester on Saturday, holding a 2-1 lead secured by Juan Mata’s double. Instead United imploded. Another lapse in concentration allowed Harry Maguire to stun United and grab a 2-2 draw for Leicester.
It was especially costly as City surged to a 17th successive victory with Sergio Aguero scoring twice in a 4-0 victory over Bournemouth.
Chelsea’s title defence faltered again in a 0-0 draw at resurgent Everton. The third-place champion fell 16 points adrift of City.
Tottenham has challenged for the trophy in the last two seasons but it was far from a contender this time. In the north London club’s first away win since September, Harry Kane’s hat trick secured a 3-0 win at Burnley and a rise into fifth place. Kane boosted his 2017 goal tally to 36 Premier League goals, matching Alan Shearer’s calendar-year record set in 1995. And Tottenham still has another game to go against Southampton.
With a threat in front of goal not seen in England’s top-flight in 35 years, Man City has surpassed a century of goals in 2017. And Pep Guardiola’s 101-goal team still has another two games to overhaul Liverpool’s top-flight record of 106 goals in 1982.
As well as two headers from Augero, Raheem Sterling and Danilo also scored for the leaders, running away with a third title since 2012. This season, City has collected 55 points from a possible 57 and scored 60 while conceding only 12 times.
Juan Mata spearheaded United’s recovery with a double that cancelled out Jamie Vardy’s opener at the culmination of a lightning counterattack. But Mourinho’s side spurned chances to extend its lead and couldn’t even exploit Leicester going a man down in the 73rd minute when substitute Daniel Amartey was booked for the second time in four minutes.
In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Maguire got ahead of United defender Chris Smalling at the far post to latch onto Marc Albrighton’s cross and stab the ball into the net.
Mourinho was fuming: “I cannot stop the game and give a team talk . . . It was not just about missing chances with an open goal, it was also about decisions. Easy decisions.”