City thump Chelsea, go top again
Aguero nets three as defending champs maul Blues 6-0; Spurs keep pressure with win over Leicester
MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s on-fire striker Sergio Aguero struck his second hat-trick in a week as the champions ruthlessly destroyed woeful Chelsea in a 6-0 win at The Etihad on Sunday to return to the top of the Premier League.
City and Liverpool are both on 65 points with City having the better goal difference although they have played one more game than their rivals. Aguero, who scored a hat-trick seven days ago against Arsenal, has now equalled Alan Shearer’s record of 11 Premier League hat-tricks.
Raheem Sterling fired City ahead in the fourth minute with a side-foot finish after a quick freekick from Kevin De Bruyne had caught the Chelsea defence napping. After Aguero missed an open goal from two metres, the Argentine promptly beat goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with a blistering strike from 25 metres.
A poor header towards his own goal from Chelsea’s Ross Barkley gifted Aguero with City’s third goal and then a low drive from Ilkay Gundogan made it 4-0 after 25 minutes.
Following the break, Aguero, who also became City’s top scorer in league games, headed against the bar before he completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after Sterling had been brought down by Cesar Azpilicueta.
Sterling completed the rout, turning in a low cross from Oleksandr Zinchenko in the 80th. The defeat was Chelsea’s worst since their 7-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in 1991.
SPURS SCORE THREE PAST LEICESTER
LONDON: Tottenham kept alive their bid to gate-crash the Premier League title race as Davinson Sanchez’s first goal for the club and Hugo Lloris’s penalty save inspired a 3-1 win over Leicester on Sunday.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side took the lead through Sanchez’s first half header, but they were indebted to Lloris for keeping out Jamie Vardy’s spot-kick after the interval at Wembley.
Christian Eriksen netted moments later and although Vardy got one back, Son Heungmin’s late strike ensured third- placed Tottenham clinched a fifth win in their last six league games.
The north Londoners are five points off the top of the table as they try to catch pace-setters Liverpool and Manchester City.
While Spurs are still outsiders to win their first English title since 1961, their ability to stay in contention despite injuries to key players Harry Kane and Dele Alli suggests they can’t be written off.
Leicester have lost four of their last five league games, increasing pressure on under-fire boss Claude Puel who has reportedly lost the support of several influential players, including England striker Vardy, who was left on the Tottenham 3 Sanchez 33 Eriksen 63 Son 90+1 Leicester 1
Vardy 76
bench for the first 60 minutes before coming on to miss the penalty with his first touch.