City edging closer to title triumph
Stirling double leads to rout of Newcastle to put Guardiola’s men three points clear
Manchester City started the celebrations to mark a decade since their first Premier League title by trying to prevent the sixth success being as dramatic with a rout started and ended by Raheem Sterling.
What had been a tight title race is now more firmly in City’s control after a 5-0 victory over Newcastle sent the champions three points clear of Liverpool yesterday.
How costly Liverpool only drawing with Tottenham on Sunday could prove to be, with City now also holding a superior goal difference over the Reds with three games to go.
Between Sterling’s double, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri and Phil Foden also found the net. The win ensured City could even have the luxury of dropping points and still win a sixth English title in 10 years.
Surely City won’t take clinching the trophy down to injury time of the final game like in 2012 — a moment immortalised in T-shirts worn by the 2022 squad before kick-off yesterday featuring “Agueroooo 93:20” to mark the moment Sergio Aguero scored the title-winning goal.
What hasn’t changed in the 10 years is the search for Champions League glory. But after the collapse at Real Madrid on Thursday denied City a spot in a second successive final, Pep Guardiola’s side made an effortless return to domestic duties.
“We’ve bounced back perfectly,” City midfielder Jack Grealish said. “We’ve stuck together as a team the last few days, which was needed.”
In years to come, it could be Newcastle challenging City for honours not just in the Premier League but in Europe too.
“We’re richer than you,” Newcastle fans mockingly taunted their City counterparts.
But City showed the advantage of 14 years of Abu Dhabi funding over a Newcastle side that have had only one transfer window since being bought by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and spent to avoid relegation.
Once All Whites striker Chris Wood’s tame header wasted a chance to give Newcastle the lead, Joa˜o Cancelo headed across the face of the visiting goal and Sterling nodded City in front in the 19th minute.
Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka’s inability to hold off Ilkay Gundogan’s strike from outside the box eventually allowed Laporte to pounce for the second goal in the 38th. That goal came from a corner, as did the third in the 61st when Rodri headed in from Kevin De Bruyne’s delivery.
The gloss on the win came when Grealish set up Oleksandr Zinchenko for a shot that was turned in by Foden in the 90th minute. And in the third minute of stoppage time, Grealish teed up Sterling to sweep in his second goal.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CHASE
The Champions League is preparing to welcome back Arsenal after a fiveseason absence.
The Gunners are close to sealing fourth place and a return to Europe’s elite after a 2-1 victory over Leeds yesterday pulled the team four points clear of Tottenham with three games to go.
The first of those is at Tottenham on Friday and victory in the north London derby would clinch fourth place.
Eddie Nketiah’s double in the opening 10 minutes ultimately secured the win over Leeds, who had captain Luke Ayling sent off in the 27th minute for a two-footed challenge on Gabriel Martinelli. Diego Llorente’s second-half goal for Leeds couldn’t spark a comeback.
Arsenal qualified for the Champions League for 19 consecutive seasons under Arsene Wenger before two years of failing to do so led to the manager’s departure in 2018.
RELEGATION SCRAP
Losing at Arsenal sent Leeds into the drop zone alongside already-relegated Watford and Norwich, while Everton jumped out of the bottom three with a 2-1 win at Leicester.
Mason Holgate’s header clinched the win for Everton on the half-hour after Vitalii Mykolenko’s volley had been cancelled out by Leicester forward Patson Daka. Jordan Pickford’s saves for Everton made sure of the three points in the second half.
Frank Lampard’s Everton have the advantage of having three games remaining while Burnley and Leeds, a point below Everton, have one match fewer.
EUROPA LEAGUE PURSUIT
Manchester United’s worst-ever Premier League season — typified by a 4-0 collapse at Brighton on Sunday — has given West Ham hope claiming sixth place.
A 4-0 victory over Norwich kept West Ham in seventh place — enough for Europa Conference League qualification — but David Moyes’ side are only three points from sixth with two games remaining and one in hand on United in the final Europa League spot.
Said Benrahma’s double, a Michail Antonio strike and Manuel Lanzini’s second-half penalty secured the win for West Ham, denied a place in this season’s Europa League final by Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday.