The Malta Independent on Sunday
Man City ends historic year on high and just behind EPL leaders. It gets worse for Man Utd
After the greatest year in Man‐ chester City's history, Pep Guardiola's players look hungry for another.
Defending champion City ended a trophy‐laden 2023 with a 2‐0 win against Sheffield United in the English Premier League on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Manchester United looks lost after another defeat. United's 14th loss in all competitions came at Notting‐ ham Forest by 2‐1.
City moved up to third, just two points behind leader Liver‐ pool. That's not bad considering Guardiola's team has struggled to hit the heights of last season's treble‐winning campaign and has been without the talismanic Kevin De Bruyne since August.
The Belgium international is on his way back from a ham‐ string injury and City is finding form after a recent run of just one win in six league games.
"We're not top of the league, Liverpool are better," Guardiola said. "We've had injuries and some problems. Our level is re‐ ally good I would say and we are there."
City added the Club World Cup last week to the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and European Super Cup trophies it won over the past 12 months, and all were on display ahead of kickoff at Etihad Stadium, where it hasn't lost all year.
"When you're walking out and you see five trophies, it hits home to you who you are play‐ ing against and what they've achieved," Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder said.
Goals from Rodri and Julian Al‐ varez helped City secure back‐ to‐back wins since returning from the Club World Cup in
Saudi Arabia. De Bruyne was an unused substitute, while Erling Haaland was still absent with a foot injury that has kept him out since the start of the month.
The return of both of those players should only strengthen Guardiola's attempt to make history by winning an unprece‐ dented fourth Premier League in a row.
MAN UNITED LOSE
It is a wonder how Man United is seventh on the table and not lower.
Morgan Gibbs‐White scored an 82nd‐minute winner for Sheffield United that consigned Man United to a ninth loss in 20 league games.
Coming mere days after the comeback win against Aston Villa, the defeat underscored the lack of consistency by Man United and the size of Erik ten Hag's task to coax his players into form in the new year.
Their damaging run has al‐ ready seen them eliminated from Europe and the League Cup.
"The loss was unnecessary," ten Hag said. "We lost it in the first half. We weren't energized enough or invested enough."
VILLA DRAMA
Aston Villa was up to second after Douglas Luiz scored an 89th‐minute penalty in a 3‐2 win against second‐from‐bottom Burnley.
Villa was recently held at home by bottom side Sheffield United and looked like dropping more points after Burnley twice came back from a goal down.
But, having also lost at Man‐ chester United on Tuesday, Villa got back to winning ways through Luiz's spot kick.
It secured a 26th league win of 2023 for Unai Emery's team, which is second to Liverpool on goal difference.
PALMER DOUBLE
Chelsea fans will be glad to see the back of 2023. A mostly mis‐ erable year at least saw the Lon‐ don club sign a player who has quickly become a fan favorite.
In a season of few highlights, Cole Palmer has provided more than most. With two goals and an assist against Luton on Satur‐ day, he helped Chelsea end the year with a 3‐2 win.
Palmer was signed from Man‐ chester City for 40 million pounds ($50.7 million) in the offseason and it has looked like money well spent.
The 21‐year‐old England for‐ ward has been Chelsea's best player in another troubled cam‐ paign under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Cap‐ ital.
His double at Kenilworth Road made it eight goals in 16 league appearances, to add to the two he scored for City in the Com‐ munity Shield and European Super Cup final before his move.
He also provided the assist for Noni Madueke in a game that saw Luton stage a late fightback through goals from Ross Barkley and Elijah Adebayo.
WOLVES RUN
Wolves made it three wins out of three in the league over the Christmas holidays by beating Everton 3‐0 at Molineux.
Goals from Maximilian Kilman, Matheus Cunha and Craig Daw‐ son saw Gary O'Neil's team fol‐ low up a 4‐1 win against Brentford on Wednesday in im‐ pressive style.
Everton, meanwhile, has lost three games on the run after four straight wins moved it out of the relegation zone.
Crystal Palace got a first win since the start of November by coming from behind to beat Brentford 3‐1 at Selhurst Park, with Michael Olise scoring twice.
Pulisic comes to Milan’s rescue
Christian Pulisic proved enough to give Milan a much‐needed vic‐ tory to see out 2023, despite the strong Sassuolo record at San Siro.
The injury crisis intensified with Fikayo Tomori, Yunus Musah, Malick Thiaw, Pierre Kalulu, Noah Okafor, Marco Pel‐ legrino, Tommaso Pobega, Mattia Caldara and Marco Sportiello out of action, so Simon Kjaer was the only fit senior centre‐back. The Neroverdi missed Matias Vina, Gregoire Defrel, Uros Racic and Daniel Boloca, but Domenico Be‐ rardi returned.
Ismael Bennacer had the ball in the net after seven minutes, but it did not count because Olivier Giroud was offside when gather‐ ing the rebound from a parried long‐range Tijjani Reijnders strike.
Reijnders also drilled wide and Bennacer skimmed the upright from the edge of the area, but Ruben Loftus‐Cheek blasted into the stands from a Rafael Leao as‐ sist.
Leao thought he had scored on 32 minutes from a tight angle into the far top corner, but again the offside flag was up on the Alessandro Florenzi assist.
Mike Maignan flew to fingertip a trademark Berardi curler over the crossbar, but after the restart Reijnders completely scuffed the finish from inside the area, al‐ lowing it to be charged down.
Armand Laurienté curled into the arms of Maignan, but the deadlock was finally broken on the hour mark when Ruan Tres‐ soldi failed to intercept the Ben‐ nacer through ball, so Christian Pulisic could beat Andrea Consigli one‐on‐one with a delicate dink.