ONE MORE WIN!
City blitz Everton with a scintillating first half . . . and can wrap up Pep’s first title at home against United on Saturday
MANCHESTER CITY chalked up their fifth consecutive Premier League victory and will be crowned champions in dream fashion if they defeat Manchester United in next Saturday’s derby at the Etihad.
Pep Guardiola’s side won at Good- ison by producing a mesmeric firsthalf display that produced goals from Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling.
By the time Yannick Bolasie grabbed a consolation past the hour mark, City were already dropping the tempo in anticipation of the Champions League humdinger at Liverpool on Wednesday. Kevin De Bruyne and Sterling were substituted early as a precaution.
City are on course to break Premier League records for points and goals in winning their third title in seven seasons and even without Sergio Aguero they proved far too strong for Everton, whose hopes of finishing seventh and qualifying for Europe are fading fast.
Their manager Sam Allardyce will wonder if he erred by leaving the energetic Tom Davies on the bench until the 57th minute, given Everton desperately looked short of midfield legs without the injured Idrissa Gueye.
City named a strong line-up albeit minus the injured John Stones. The £54million central defender Aymeric Laporte was the latest to enter Guardiola’s revolving door at left-back.
Allardyce, on the back of two consecutive wins, sent out an adventurous-looking side, with wingers Theo Walcott and Bolasie supporting forwards Daniel Calvert-Lewin and Cenk Tosun. But after less than five minutes, his best-laid plans were blown apart by a City goal of breathtaking quality.
Laporte overlapped on the left and when his pass reached David Silva, the Spaniard took one touch to find space and a second to dink the ball to Sane standing about 12 yards from goal. The German watched the ball’s flight all the way and connected sweetly with a leftfoot volley that flew past Jordan Pickford. It was Sane’s 13th goal of a season in which he has blossomed under Guardiola.
The early goal did not change the pattern, City’s maroon-shirted players looked as if they could find each other blindfolded.
In midfield, Wayne Rooney — who once scored against City with an overhead kick voted the best Premier League goal ever — spent too much time chasing shadows.
The first moment of danger in City’s penalty area arrived after 12 minutes when Bolasie headed over the bar.
In the very next attack, the visitors broke forward to score their second goal. De Bruyne, a hot tip to be Player of the Year, had time and space on the right-hand side and such is the Belgian’s accuracy, nobody was surprised he found the head of Jesus with his curled cross.
The Brazilian was able to convert from six yards, his neck muscles generating enough power for the ball to flash into the net even though Pickford got a flailing hand to it.
City were enjoying themselves. Silva hit the side-netting, Sterling popped a shot just wide from 18 yards. Sane and Silva played a fine one-two to set up Kyle Walker, with the England defender berating himself for a scuffed finish.
Calvert-Lewin looked Everton’s best outlet going forward but he was being asked do too much on his own. That did not stop Rooney forcibly making his point to the England Under-21 international, possibly ‘requesting’ that he stay
more central rather than wandering about.
Seamus Coleman tried to get the home crowd going with a challenge on Sane best described as ‘fullblooded’ and left the German dumped on his backside. Bolasie then shoved over De Bruyne as Everton tried to get closer to their opponents.
They like good football at Goodison and you sensed that even Evertonians admired a first-time flick from Jesus that allowed Sterling a run on goal, though his final effort was deflected over. Fernandinho’s ability to regularly pick a pass between two defenders was also met with appreciative murmurs.
Goal No 3 arrived after 37 minutes. Fernandinho released Silva down the left and while Everton appealed in vain for offside, the Spaniard ran and crossed low for Sterling to outpace Leighton Baines and steer home.
Everton were booed off at halftime after mustering only 18 per cent of possession and failing to land a shot on target.
Surprisingly, Allardyce waited until the 57th minute to make his first change, withdrawing Rooney to ironic cheers from City fans. Davies came on to add more energy to Everton’s midfield and the alteration produced a quick dividend when Bolasie’s low strike from the edge of the box after 63 minutes beat Ederson and bounced off the inside of the post into the net. It was Bolasie’s first goal for almost 18 months, much of that time spent recovering from a serious knee injury.
City looked slightly rattled, though they nearly scored again when Fernandinho’s deflected shot forced a fine save from Pickford.