City hit hapless Chelsea for six
PRESSURE’S ON: SPURS STAY IN TOUCH WITH TOP TWO
Manchester / London
Sergio Aguero grabbed a hat-trick as Manchester City scored four times inside 25 minutes to thrash Chelsea 6-0 and leapfrog Liverpool again to top spot in the Premier League on goal difference yesterday.
Aguero should have had even more than three as the Argentine missed a glorious early chance and hit the bar in the second-half in a humiliating afternoon for Maurizio Sarri’s men.
Raheem Sterling started and ended the scoring and Ilkay Gundogan also netted in the first quarter of the game as City ended what could have been a testing week with a trip to Everton in between the visits of Arsenal and Chelsea with maximum points.
Jurgen Klopp’s men maintain the advantage of a game in hand, but handed a reprieve by Liverpool’s draws against Leicester and West Ham in recent weeks, City look determined to become the first side in a decade to retain the Premier League.
Chelsea on the other hand slip to sixth with the scale of the defeat sure to raise further doubts over Sarri’s future.
A 4-0 defeat to Bournemouth in their last away game was Chelsea’s heaviest league defeat since 1996.
And this was their worst loss in any competition since 1991 after failing to recover from Sterling’s fourth-minute opener.
Eden Hazard went to sleep from Kevin de Bruyne’s quickly taken free-kick and Bernardo Silva had acres of space to cross for the England international to fire home.
Pep Guardiola had described this match as a “final” for his side given that Chelsea had a week to prepare, while City ground out a 2-0 win at Everton on Wednesday.
In the other game yesterday, Tottenham kept alive their bid to gatecrash the Premier League title race as Davinson Sanchez’s first goal for the club and Hugo Lloris’s penalty save inspired a 3-1 win over Leicester.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side took the lead through Sanchez’s firsthalf header, but they were indebted to Lloris for keeping out Jamie Vardy’s spot-kick after the interval at Wembley.
Christian Eriksen netted moments later and although Vardy got one back, Son Heung-min’s late strike ensured third-placed Tottenham clinched a fifth win in their last six league games.
The north Londoners are five points off the top of the table as they try to catch pace-setters Liverpool and Manchester City.
While Tottenham are still outsiders to win their first English title since 1961, their ability to stay in contention, despite injuries to key players Harry Kane and Dele Alli suggests they shouldn’t be completely written off.
Leicester boss Claude Puel has reportedly lost the support of several influential players. –