Unstoppable City make it 16 wins in a row
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.
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.
In other Premier League games yesterday, last week’s villain suddenly turned hero, as Crystal Palace continued their climb away from relegation in the English Premier League.
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 helped propel Palace to a 3-0 win away at Leicester City.
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.’’
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.
Arsenal ended a three-match winless run thanks to a brilliant strike from Oezil.
It came in the 23rd minute when Alexis Sanchez’s blocked shot fell to the German, who powered a left-footed volley past Rob Elliot.
The loss drops Newcastle, who are winless in nine, into the relegation zone.
Chelsea’s win over Southampton was their eighth in 10 league games.
Brighton and Burnley had 23 shots on goal between them and couldn’t break the stalemate at the Amex Stadium. All Whites striker Wood had two of those chances for Burnley but wasn’t able to beat Brighton man-of-the-match – and Socceroos goalkeeper – Mat Ryan.