CHELSEA HEX OVER AS JESUS PRODUCES MIRACLE
MANCHESTER City has ended its Chelsea hoodoo, beating the European champion 1-0.
And Bruno Fernandes missed a last-gasp penalty in Manchester United’s shock 1-0 Premier League loss to Aston Villa on Sunday.
Liverpool failed to take full advantage of those results, twice squandering the lead in a pulsating 3-3 draw at Brentford.
Elsewhere, Jamie Vardy netted twice at the right end against Burnley after scoring an early own goal in a 2-2 draw for stuttering
Leicester, while Norwich slumped to a sixth consecutive league loss.
Gabriel Jesus’ second-half strike proved decisive for Pep Guardiola’s City, which gained a measure of revenge for three consecutive defeats by Chelsea last season, including a painful loss in the Champions League final in Porto.
Guardiola said this week his side lacked a “weapon” to match Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku or United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
But Jesus made the difference for City, which could have won more convincingly but for a combination of wasteful finishing and impressive defending.
The Brazilian forward got the break City deserved in the 53rd minute as his effort deflected off Jorginho to leave goalkeeper Edouard Mendy flat-footed.
“Sometimes we believe we need a proper striker to finish, but the important thing is the way we play,” Guardiola told the BBC.
“The most important thing is doing it as a team and as a unit. It’s like last season. Sergio (Aguero, who has left the club) was injured all year and we won the Premier League.”
Villa arrived at Old Trafford with a woeful record of one win in its previous 45 Premier League games against Manchester United, including 33 defeats.
The home side, boasting an attack of Ronaldo, Fernandes, Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood, had 28 shots, but Villa defender Kortney Hause flicked a near-post header beyond David de Gea from a corner in the 88th minute.