Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Sterling is ‘happy to help’ keep City run going
RAHEEM Sterling deflected the personal praise after settling a game in Manchester City’s favour with a late goal for the second time in a week.
The England international grabbed the 86th-minute winner as City beat Huddersfield 2-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday to restore their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
It was Sterling’s 12th goal of the season and, although it was highly fortunate as the ball rebounded off him from a Jonas Lossl save and looped in, the timing is becoming a common theme.
Sterling scored an 88th-minute winner against Feyenoord in the Champions League last Tuesday while Everton, Bournemouth, Watford, Shakhtar Donetsk and Napoli have also conceded to him in the last 10 minutes of games.
“I’m just happy to help my team in the circumstances,” said Sterling.
“It was 1-1 and luckily it hit my thigh and went in. That is the most important thing, the ball going in the back of the net.
“I thought we dug in deep and kept playing our game. We knew chances would come. It was just down to us to take them and that is what we have done. Credit to the boys. We pushed on and got the three points I thought we deserved.”
The victory was City’s 11th in succession in the Premier League and a club record 17th straight in all competitions.
It was one they were made to work hard for as Huddersfield successfully blunted their attack. The Terriers took the lead with a Nicolas Otamendi own goal on the stroke of half-time.
City replied with a Sergio Aguero penalty but appeared to be running out of ideas before Sterling got lucky late on.
Sterling said: “These are games that count, when you are down, not just the ones where it’s where it’s 3-0, 4-0. When you’re losing 1-0 at halftime you’ve got to really dig deep and get the points.”