Struggling City find their goal-scoring flair
Manchester City finally rediscovered the kind of football that made them Premier League champions, just in time for this week’s crucial top-of-the-table clash against Liverpool.
Paul Pogba and Manchester United are finally looking like their old selves, too, though whether there’s still time to launch a challenge for the Champions League spots remains to be seen.
City beat Southampton 3-1 yesterday to end a run of two straight losses — and three defeats in four matches — while United overpowered Bournemouth 4-1 to continue their resurgence under caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Chelsea also held on for a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace to strengthen their grip on fourth place, while Burnley ended a three-match losing streak with a 2-0 home victory over West Ham.
City’s title defence had looked in danger of collapsing completely during the busy festive period after surprising losses to Palace and Leicester but Pep Guardiola’s team found its attacking verve at Southampton thanks to two quick goals just before halftime. David Silva and Sergio Aguero scored for City, who also benefited from a fortunate owngoal by James Ward-Prowse.
The win puts City back into second place, two points ahead of Tottenham but still seven behind leaders Liverpool ahead of the Reds’ highly anticipated visit to the Etihad on Friday.
For Pogba and United, the race for a top-four spot is only now starting to build up some steam.
Pogba scored two goals and added an assist as United put in another impressive attacking display under Solskjaer, who now has three straight wins since taking over from the fired Jose Mourinho — with the team netting 12 goals in that span.
‘‘Obviously, it’s different,’’ Pogba said. ‘‘It’s just a different style of play, we are more offensive I would say, so we create more chances. That’s how we want to play, we want to attack, the manager wants to attack, and that’s what we do on the pitch.’’
The win puts United just three points behind fifth-placed Arsenal but they remain eight points behind Chelsea in the final Champions League spot after N’Golo Kante secured a narrow victory at Palace.
Burnley got first-half goals from Kiwi Chris Wood and Dwight McNeil against a surprisingly toothless West Ham side, giving the team only its second win since September 30.
Sean Dyche’s side remained in 18th place but now only trails Southampton on goal difference and is just four points from 14th in a tight bottom third of the table.