The Malta Independent on Sunday
Man City can clinch title by beating United in Saturday’s derby
Football in the UK
Now it's on for Manchester City to win the English Premier League in the sweetest way possible: Victory over Manchester United in next Saturday's derby will seal the trophy for Pep Guardiola's runway leader.
Not even Alex Ferguson managed to clinch any of his 13 titles for United by beating the neighbors. Even more incredibly, City can secure its third title since 2012 with six games to spare thanks to the Manchester rivals both winning yesterday.
Alexis Sanchez scored after setting up Romelu Lukaku's opener as United beat Swansea 2-0.
City then blitzed Everton, with Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, and Raheem Sterling scoring inside the first 37 minutes in a 3-1 victory at Everton.
United's hopes of a first title since Ferguson retired in 2013 evaporated before the season reached its midway point. Holding onto second place will be a sign of progress, though, under Jose Mourinho.
Liverpool remained two points behind United — having played an additional game — after Mohamed Salah completed a comeback to win 2-1 at Crystal Palace.
Tottenham, which has played two games fewer than Liverpool to trail by five points, travels to fifth-place Chelsea today as the London rivals tussle for the fourth Champions League spot.
Vicente Iborra and Jamie Vardy scored late goals as Leicester dented Brighton's Premier League survival hopes with a 2-0.
Iborra nodded the ball into the bottom right corner in the 83rd minute before Vardy tapped home the second in stoppage time.
Brighton striker Glenn Murray had seen a 77th-minute penalty saved by Kasper Schmeichel, while Leicester ended the game with 10 men after Wilfred Ndidi was dismissed for a second yellow card with the score at 1-0.
Ayoze Perez fired Newcastle to the brink of Premier League safety with his fifth goal of the season securing a 1-0 victory over Huddersfield.
The Spaniard slid home Kenedy's 80th-minute cross to break the deadlock on a tense afternoon at St. James' Park, much to the relief of the bulk of a crowd of 52,261.
Watford and Bournemouth stayed in midtable comfort after a 2-2 draw in the English Premier League with Jermain Defoe coming off the bench to rescue a stoppage-time point for the Cherries.
Roberto Pereyra's strike early in the second half looked as though it would be enough to secure victory for the Hornets at Vicarage Road but Defoe struck late on.
Kiko Femenia put Javi Gracia's side ahead only for the visitors to equalize before halftime through Joshua King's penalty.
Pereyra put Watford back in front soon after the interval, until Defoe turned home Nathan Ake's flick-on at the end.
Burnley kept alive its hopes of European football next season and edged West Bromwich Albion closer to relegation from the English Premier League in a 2-1 win yesterday.
There was little to choose between the sides. Neither have been prolific scorers but Burnley is organized and dogged, and when Ashley Barnes' scissor kick put the visitors ahead after 22 minutes it was already a long way back for the Baggies. They haven't come from behind to win a Premier League game since February last year.
Chris Wood marked his recall with the second goal after 73 minutes to seal a third straight league win, and move within two points of sixth-placed Arsenal.
Salomon Rondon pulled a goal back late on but West Brom's eighth consecutive defeat in the league kept it on the bottom of the table and 10 points from safety.
The West Ham mutiny was soothed by a resurgent performance producing a 3-0 victory over a listless Southampton, coupled with heightened security at the Olympic Stadium yesterday.
Marko Arnautovic's double after Joao Mario's opener ensured there was an unfamiliar soundtrack at the stadium unloved by so many West Ham fans: Cheers and applause.
Mohamed Salah scored his 37th goal of the season as Liverpool came from behind to secure a vital 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace.
Sadio Mane scored the Liverpool equalizer early in the second half and was fortunate to avoid a red card. The visitors capitalized by securing all three points with Salah's 84th-minute effort to maintain their pursuit of a second-place finish.
Palace led at halftime following Luka Milivojevic's penalty but, after conceding another late goal at Selhurst Park, the south London club remains at risk of relegation from the Premier League.
PW D L F A Pts Man City 31 27 3 1 88 21 84 Man United 31 21 5 5 60 23 68 Liverpool 32 19 9 4 75 35 66 Tottenham 30 18 7 5 59 25 61 Chelsea 30 17 5 8 52 27 56 Arsenal 30 14 6 10 55 41 48 Burnley 31 12 10 9 29 27 46 Leicester 31 11 10 10 47 43 43 Everton 32 11 7 14 38 53 40 Bournemouth 32 9 10 13 39 51 37 Watford 32 10 7 15 41 57 37 Newcastle 31 9 8 14 31 40 35 Brighton 31 8 10 13 28 42 34 West Ham 31 8 9 14 39 57 33 Swansea 31 8 7 16 25 44 31 Huddersfield 32 8 7 17 25 53 31 Crystal Palace 32 7 9 16 31 50 30 Southampton 31 5 13 13 29 47 28 Stoke 31 6 9 16 29 58 27 West Brom 32 3 11 18 25 51 20
Premier League
Yesterday Today
PW D L F A Pts Celtic 31 21 8 2 62 20 71 Rangers 32 18 5 9 63 38 59 Aberdeen 31 18 5 8 48 34 59 Hibernian 31 15 10 6 45 33 55 Kilmarnock 31 13 10 8 42 38 49 Hearts 31 10 12 9 32 29 42 Motherwell 31 10 7 14 36 41 37 St Johnstone 32 10 7 15 32 47 37 Hamilton 30 8 6 16 40 53 30 Dundee FC 30 8 4 18 30 48 28 Partick Thistle 31 6 7 18 26 52 25 Ross County 31 5 7 19 33 56 22
It was Juergen Klopp's 100th league game in charge of Liverpool.
Romelu Lukaku scored his 100th English Premier League goal and Alexis Sanchez doubled the lead with his second goal for United as they responded to a win by Liverpool — United's main rival for a second-place finish — earlier at Crystal Palace.
Lukaku is the 28th player to reach triple figures in Premier League goals. And, at 24 years
PW D L F A Pts Wolves 39 26 7 6 71 34 85 Cardiff 38 24 7 7 61 32 79 Fulham 39 20 12 7 68 41 72 Aston Villa 39 20 10 9 61 37 70 Derby 38 16 14 8 56 38 62 M’brough 39 18 8 13 55 38 62 Bristol City 39 16 14 9 56 44 62 Millwall 39 16 13 10 48 37 61 Sheffield Utd 39 18 7 14 52 44 61 Preston 39 15 15 9 49 41 60 Brentford 39 14 13 12 55 47 55 Leeds 39 15 8 16 52 54 53 Ipswich 39 15 7 17 47 49 52 Norwich 39 13 13 13 41 46 52 QPR 39 12 11 16 45 56 47 Nottingham 39 13 7 19 43 56 46 Sheffield Wed 39 10 14 15 45 53 44 Hull City 39 9 13 17 53 59 40 Reading 39 9 12 18 45 57 39 Bolton 39 9 12 18 34 58 39 Birmingham 39 10 6 23 29 57 36 Barnsley 39 7 13 19 39 58 34 Sunderland 39 6 13 20 42 69 31 Burton 39 7 9 23 28 70 30
League One
Yesterday
Saturday 7 April
Everton v Liverpool Bournemouth v C. Palace Brighton v Huddersfield Leicester v Newcastle Stoke v Tottenham Watford v Burnley West Brom v Swansea Man City v Man Utd
Sunday 8 April
Arsenal v Southempton Chelsea v West Ham Yesterday and 322 days, he is the fifth quickest to get to that milestone after Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane.
The Belgium striker ran onto Sanchez's pass and scored with a deflected shot to put United ahead at Old Trafford in the fifth minute.
Sanchez, who had one of his best performances since joining from Arsenal in January, made it 2-0 in the 20th after being set up by Jesse Lingard.