Pep says he has ‘no words’ to describe De Bruyne’s magic
LONDON: Manchester United survived a tense finale to beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at the Hawthorns yesterday and close to within 11 points of Premier League leaders Manchester City.
United’s former West Brom striker Romelu Lukaku scored his 15th goal of the season in the 27th minute by heading home Marcus Rashford’s leftwing cross. Midfielder Jesse Lingard doubled the lead with a deflected shot from the edge of the penalty area eight minutes later.
United appeared to be on course for a comfortable win, but West Brom set up a nervous finish for Jose Mourinho’s side when substitute Gareth Barry poked home from close range following a corner in the 77th minute.
United hung on, however, to restore their three-point advantage over third-placed Chelsea. West Brom have now gone 16 league matches without a win and remained second bottom, two points from safety.
“I think we deserved the win,” Mourinho told Sky Sports. “We were the best team. We controlled the game for a long, long time.”
United spurned opportunities to kill the game off when Rashford slashed a right-footed shot wide in the 57th minute and Lingard fired straight at West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster.
They then switched off at a set-piece to allow Barry to score and were lucky not to concede an equaliser when Jay Rodriguez headed wide from point-blank range with five minutes remaining.
“We had a few chances to kill the game but I knew they would react,” Mourinho added. “The intensity in the first half maybe we didn’t have in the second half.”
West Brom manager Alan Pardew, who was appointed last month after Tony Pulis was sacked, made one change to the side who drew 0-0 against Liverpool on Wednesday.
“The team I picked, in hindsight, was not the right team,” Pardew said. “I should have put some fresh legs in there, but they did so well at Liverpool that, I’m a new manager, I wanted to show some faith in those players. But I should have maybe made two or three changes. We looked leggy.”
Meanwhile, Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah scored fine individual goals as Liverpool moved back into the top four of the Premier League with a ruthless 4-0 win over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium yesterday.
Coutinho opened the scoring in the 20th minute by slaloming through the right-hand side of Bournemouth’s defence and finding the bottom corner with a composed finish.
Dejan Lovren doubled the lead with a close-range diving header six minutes later and Salah made it 3-0 one minute before halftime by skipping past fullback Charlie Daniels in the right channel and beating goalkeeper Asmir Begovic with a neat left-footed shot.
Coutinho crossed for fellow Brazilian Roberto Firmino to head Liverpool’s fourth, in the 66th minute.
Salah’s goal was his 20th this season in all competitions and put him two clear of Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane at the top of the league scoring charts, on 14.
Liverpool are now unbeaten in nine league matches and have moved up to fourth in the standings, one point ahead of Arsenal, who drop to fifth. Bournemouth have not won in six in the league and remain 16th, one point above the relegation zone.
Liverpool dominated the match and would have won by a greater margin had Coutinho not seen an 11th-minute freekick hit the inside of the post and rebound across goal. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Ings also struck the post for the visitors in the second half. – Reuters MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s 4-1 hammering of Tottenham highlighted just how much the London club need to improve if they are to play for the title, manager Mauricio Pochettino said after Saturday’s loss.
Relentless City picked up their 16th straight win after brushing aside a team who this season have beaten Real Madrid in the Champions League and who were tipped by many to be Premier League contenders.
“Of course you cannot say anything positive, because that is the mentality of football,” Pochettino told reporters.
“But for me, you can take some positives from the unbelievable experience for the team to realise that to play for the Premier League we need to improve, we need to learn, to work harder than before and of course we play again today a team that has a lot of quality.”
The Argentine noted some key moments that influenced the outcome, particularly the soft opener they gave City in the 14th minute when Ilkay Gundogan was left unmarked to head in a corner.
“I think first of all, the better team won. When you watch the game and you assess the game, the way we conceded the first goal was a massive gift for Manchester City,” Pochettino said.
“It changed completely all that you compare and wanted to develop on the pitch.
“We cannot concede in the way that we conceded, a lack of concentration and focus, and this situation changed the game.”
Spurs enjoyed a good spell of pressure after halftime and from the outset they attempted to attack City, but Pochettino said that City were just too good.
“Throughout the game we respected our ideas but they were better. We tried but in the end there is not too much to assess, not too much to say, we just have to try to lift the players and be ready to compete again next week,” Pochettino said.
“They are in a very good form and momentum. They are showing why they are the best in the Premier League.”
City manager Pep Guardiola said he had no words to describe the performance of midfielder Kevin De Bruyne after the Belgian inspired them to victory on Saturday.
De Bruyne was at the heart of City’s win, scoring their second with a blistering strike.
Beyond that he was a constant threat to Tottenham every time he had the ball, torturing Spurs with both his sweeping passes and his direct running at their defence.
He was brought down for the second-half penalty that was struck against the post by Gabriel Jesus and it was the Belgian’s burst forward that led to City’s third goal, which put the outcome beyond doubt.
“His performance today, I have no words, no words to describe what he has done with the ball, how many assists, his (ability to) switch play,” said the Spanish manager.
“The fact that he is one of the most talented players and you see him, how he runs without the ball, he is a good example for the young players, for our academy.” – Reuters