City unstoppable
Another Kevin De Bruyne masterclass helped propel Manchester City to their sixteenth straight English Premier League victory.
The Belgian midfielder scored City’s second goal, in their 4-1 demolition of Tottenham Hotspur, but it was his workrate which delighted manager Pep Guardiola.
‘‘I can just say thank you to all my players, especially Kevin. He is one of the most talented players and you see how he runs without the ball,’’ Guardiola told the Manchester City website.
‘‘His performance today I have no words to describe. With the ball so many assists, shift plays, all the time he was playing with his head, and overall without the ball he was able to pressurise the goalkeeper.’’
Ilkay Gundogan put City 1-0 up, in the 14th minute, but it took almost an hour for De Bruyne to add to that, despite City holding sway. Raheem Sterling then banged in two late goals to complete the rout.
Christian Eriksen scored for Spurs in added time.
Meanwhile, last week’s villain suddenly turned hero, as Crystal Palace continued their climb away from relegation.
Belgian striker Christian Benteke made all the wrong headlines against Bournemouth a few days ago by insisting on taking - and then missing - a stoppage time penalty that would’ve won Palace the match.
Benteke had gone 1106 minutes without a goal, but his 17th-minute headed effort at the King Power Stadium has now helped propel Palace to a 3-0 win away at Leicester City. In other Premier League action on Sunday (NZT) suspension meant All Whites skipper Winston Reid sat out West Ham’s 3-0 win over Stoke City, Australia’s Aaron Mooy scored twice as Huddersfield Town beat Watford 4-1, Arsenal were 1-0 winners over struggling Newcastle, Chelsea beat Southampton 1-0 at home at Stamford Bridge and Chris Wood’s Burnley had to settle for a 0-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Palace began the season with no goals and no points from their first seven games, but this win over Leicester temporarily put them up to 14th on the table and continued the rise in fortunes since Roy Hodgson came in as manager.
‘‘Benteke was very strong. The day after [the penalty miss] he came in and held his hand up, he spoke to the players and myself and made the point that he would make it up to team, and that is what he has done,’’ Hodgson said.
‘‘We know that he is a quality player and the goal he scored is the sort of one he’s going to score, and had it not been for a wonder-save by [Leicester goalkeeper] Kasper Schmeichel, he would have scored two today because he got in the positions well.
‘‘His record at Aston Villa was one every two games, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he matched that here in the remaining games of the season -- that’s what we’re hoping for.’’
Elsewhere, Reid was forced to miss the Hammers’ big win, after accumulating five yellow cards this season. That meant he had to serve an automatic one-match ban, which didn’t end up thwarting his team’s hopes away at Stoke.
Mark Noble, Mark Arnautovic and Diafra Sakho were on the scoresheet as West Ham moved to 17 points, level with Crystal Palace.
Mooy’s goals helped Huddersfield to their first away win since the first weekend of the season. He scored the Terriers’ second goal, before a late spot-kick that capped the 4-1 win.
A spectacular 23rd-minute Mesut Ozil volley saw Arsenal claim all three points at the Emirates Stadium, while a Marcos Alonso goal in first-half stoppage time was all that separated Chelsea and Southampton.
Brighton and Burnley had 23 shots on goal between them and couldn’t break the stalemate. Wood, the All Whites striker, had two of those chances for Burnley but wasn’t able to beat Brighton man-of-the-match - and Socceroos goalkeeper - Mat Ryan.