City fight back to conquer Villa
After Super League climbdown, Guardiola’s men score vital win in EPL
London, April 22: A tough week for Manchester City and Tottenham, two of the rebel clubs in the aborted Super League project, got even more difficult when they fell behind on their return to Premier League action.
Both teams recovered to register vital wins and leave them in good spirits for their next match their meeting at Wembley Stadium for the English League Cup final on Sunday.
City fought back from conceding a goal after just 20 seconds to beat Aston Villa 2-1 and move 11 points clear in their march to a third league title in four years. A maximum of eight points are needed by Pep Guardiola’s team from their final five games.
Each side had a man sent off at Villa Park, with City defender John Stones’ straight red card for a reckless lunge late in the first half ruling him out for three matches starting with the cup final.
Tottenham needed a 90thminute penalty from Son Heung-min to clinch a 2-1 victory over Southampton and close to within two points of fourth-place
Chelsea in the race for Champions League qualification.
It was a great way for Ryan Mason to start his interim tenure as manager, as the replacement for the fired Jose Mourinho.
At 29 years, 312 days, Mason became the youngest person to manage a team in a Premier League game, a proud moment for the former Tottenham midfielder who was forced to retire in 2018
after failing to fully recover from a fractured skull sustained during an FA Cup match.
They were the first games for City and Tottenham since they were pressured into withdrawing from a breakaway Super League which they had formed with 10 of Europe’s other elite clubs.
A small band of supporters protested outside Tottenham’s stadium ahead of match against Southampton, calling for the removal of chairman Daniel Levy and the club’s owners, the ENIC Group.
FANTASTIC FODEN
With City losing to Leeds in their last league game and second-place Manchester United winning their last five league games, the gap between the local rivals were down to eight points.
City were also coming off a loss to Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinals, ruining their bid for an unprecedented quadruple, so Guardiola knew the importance of the Villa match and fielded his strongest available team.
Phil Foden stood out, the 20-year-old England forward canceling out John McGinn’s very early opener for Villa by scoring the equalizer with a volley at the end of a flowing team move involving Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva.