Manchester City return to summit after 4-0 victory over Leeds United
Guardiola’s men simply need to win each of their four remaining games to wrap up the Premier League title
MANCHESTER City kept the outcome of the Premier League title race in their hands with a 4-0 win over Leeds United.
After Liverpool claimed a 1-0 victory at Newcastle United earlier on Saturday, City needed a win to regain a one-point advantage in their hard-fought battle with the Reds.
City faced few problems in getting the result they needed, with Rodri and Nathan Ake converting from set-pieces in each half before Gabriel Jesus and Fernandinho wrapped up the points late on.
Pep Guardiola’s men simply need to win each of their four remaining games to wrap up the Premier League title, while Leeds remain in danger of relegation after slipping to 17th.
The visitors rested several players, including evin De Bruyne, ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Real Madrid, and could have fallen behind early on when Rodrigo Moreno delayed his pass after capitalizing on Joao Cancelo’s slip.
But City took the lead after 13 minutes when Rodri met Phil Foden’s left-wing free-kick with a glancing header, diverting the ball into the top-right corner.
Junior Firpo fired over when presented with the hosts’ best opening in a quiet first half, and Jesse Marsch’s men lost Stuart Dallas to a seriouslooking injury shortly before the break.
Jack Grealish bent a shot narrowly wide of the top-right corner after Raheem Sterling danced through the home defence after 52 minutes, but Ake doubled their lead soon after, prodding home after Ruben Dias met a right-wing corner.
City made the points safe when Jesus latched onto Foden’s pass to fire past Illan Meslier after 78 minutes, before Fernandinho drilled a 25yard strike into the bottom-left corner as the visitors cruised.
Keita fires muchchanged Liverpool back above Man City
Naby eita scored the only goal as a much-changed Liverpool beat in-form Newcastle United 1-0 at St James’ Park to climb above Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
Jurgen lopp, who this week signed a contract extension to keep him at Anfield until 2026, had complained about the timing of this early kick-off and made five changes following Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Villarreal in the Champions League.
Mohamed Salah, Thiago Alcantara and Trent Alexander-Arnold watched on from the bench as eita - one of those recalled - drilled in a contentious goal with 19 minutes gone.
Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka kept his side in the game but Liverpool saw out the victory to move two points above City ahead of the reigning champions’ trip to Leeds United.
eita’s winner came after he exchanged passes with Diogo Jota and rounded-Dubravka, though Newcastle’s players felt the goal should have been ruled out for a James Milner foul on Fabian Schar.
However, while Milner did catch his opponent, replays showed the Liverpool midfielder cleanly won the ball first and referee Andre Marriner was not instructed by VAR to review the goal.
Newcastle had a Miguel Almiron goal rightly disallowed for offside and otherwise struggled to create any openings, with Liverpool going close to a second before half-time when Jota’s header was palmed over.
Jota was denied by Dubravka three times in the second half and Sadio Mane planted a shot wide from a good position in his final meaningful involvement before being replaced by Salah.
Newcastle had won four games in a row heading into this contest, though they only really tested Alisson through a Bruno Guimaraes drive as Liverpool picked up a 13th league victory in their past 14 outings.