United halt City win streak
But end of 21-game run looks mere blip for Guardiola’s side
Long after the final whistle blew, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Pep Guardiola stood on the touchline, arms wrapped around each other. Deep in conversation, the managers of the Manchester rivals had a rare moment of respite in this chaotically congested season to debrief a derby that left United the victorious spoilers but City the only team with the Premier League trophy in their sights.
Manchester United’s 2-0 victory yesterday halted City’s winning run at 21 matches in all competitions. Guardiola’s side will have to settle for having the English record streak. The pursuit of the world-record 27-game mark is over.
City running away with the title seemed unimaginable in November when they lost 2-0 to then-leaders Tottenham. So too, perhaps, when it was United topping the standings less than 50 days ago.
United’s challenge has crumbled but not as spectacularly as Liverpool’s title defence. A sixth successive home defeat — losing 1-0 to Fulham yesterday — left Liverpool eighth.
Even qualifying for the Champions League could be slipping from Liverpool’s reach, with Chelsea four points ahead in fourth ahead of this morning’s match with fifth-placed Everton.
Even Tottenham have recovered to close the gap on Chelsea to two points after beating Crystal Palace 4-1. With the title looking settled, it’s the race for fourth that could provide the best late-season drama.
Only 36 seconds had elapsed at the Etihad Stadium when Gabriel Jesus tripped Anthony Martial and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Bruno Fernandes stepped up and converted his 17th penalty since joining United in January 2020.
Five minutes into the second half, United goalkeeper Dean Henderson threw the ball out to Luke Shaw, who was gifted time and space to run into the penalty area. After a one-two with Marcus Rashford, the left back scored his first league goal since 2018, putting the ball through Rodri’s legs.
But City are set to be champions, just like in 2014, 2018 and 2019 since United’s last title in 2013, when Alex Ferguson retired.
“We need to improve on so many things to get up . . . to get our consistency better,” Solskjaer said. “They’re 11 points ahead of us. That’s a long way, so we need to focus on ourselves and just be a better Man United. I feel we are a better Man United now we than were 12, 13, 16 months ago.”
Liverpool are in freefall, domestically at least. The season’s hopes are now on progressing past Leipzig to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
Liverpool have now gone more than 11 hours without a goal from open play at Anfield. The latest setback came against a Fulham side in the relegation zone. And Mario Lemina had never scored for the London club before netting at Liverpool just before halftime.
“Not good enough,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said. “We got used to each other and played some good stuff, created chances, didn’t score, and the longer the game goes on in our situation, it is not that you get stronger, it gets lesser and that is how it was.”
Three successive wins for Spurs have coincided with Gareth Bale finally making the impact hoped for when the forward returned on loan after seven years at Real Madrid.
Bale slotted the opener after 25 minutes after being set up by Kane. After Christian Benteke levelled in first-half stoppage time, Bale was on target again in the 49th minute, heading in Sergio Reguilon’s cross.
It was a lightning start to the second half, with Kane curling Spurs further ahead in the 52nd minute. Kane’s second in the 76th was assisted by Son Heung-min, giving them a Premier League-record 14 goal combinations.