Manchester is blue once again
PREMIER LEAGUE leaders Manchester City turned on the style with a 3-1 win over Manchester United in their derby clash yesterday, leaving Pep Guardiola’s unbeaten side two points clear of Liverpool.
David Silva fired City ahead in the 12th minute after a Raheem Sterling cross from the left was turned back across the goal by Bernardo Silva and the Spaniard took his time before blasting home. City doubled their lead in the third minute after the interval – Sergio Aguero bursting goalwards and playing a clever exchange with Riyad Mahrez, before thumping the ball, from a tight angle, past David de Gea.
United manager Jose Mourinho brought on Romelu Lukaku for Jesse Lingard in the 57th minute and within seconds the Belgian forward helped get his team back in the game.
Lukaku was brought down inside the area by City goalkeeper Ederson and French forward Anthony Martial confidently converted the spot kick.
But four minutes from the end City secured the victory, their 10th in 12 games this season, when the influential Bernardo Silva picked out substitute Ilkay Gundogan in the area and the German made no mistake as he made it 3-1.
Elsewhere, goals by Mo Salah and Xherdan Shaqiri saw Liverpool beat bottom club Fulham 2-0 at Anfield yesterday.
Juergen Klopp’s side made hard work of it for 40 minutes, however, and could easily have fallen behind.
Just before halftime the visitors’ Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrovic had a headed goal disallowed for offside by the closest of margins.
Liverpool immediately counter-attacked and Salah went clear to open the scoring.
Shaqiri’s side-footed volley after 53 minutes doubled the lead, pushing Fulham towards a sixth successive Premier League defeat, which equals a club record. With only one win in their 12 matches, they remain two points behind the rest and have the worst defensive record in the league, having conceded 31 times.
Goalkeeper Sergio Rico, on loan from La Liga club Sevilla, kept Liverpool at bay for most of the first half, making two particularly good saves from Salah.
Ryan Sessegnon, the highly-regarded midfielder, missed a good chance to give the Londoners a shock lead midway through the first half.
A flick by Mitrovic put him clear, but the teenager pulled his shot wide.
Then came the double blow to Fulham, who felt not only that Mitrovic was just onside when he headed in after a short-corner routine, but that the ball was moving when goalkeeper Alisson took the quick free kick that allowed Trent Alexander-Arnold to send Salah through.
Less than 15 seconds had elapsed between the ball being in one net and the other.
Fulham had tried to play offside in vain and their defending was poor again when the unmarked Shaqiri scored with a precise sidefooted volley from Andy Robertson’s cross.
That seemed to knock the stuffing out of them and the only surprise was that Liverpool did not further improve their goal difference.
“We scored a lot of goals last season but this season we have been solid at the back as well,” said left-back Robertson.
Meanwhile, Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Everton as they lost ground to fellow title-chasers Liverpool.
Chelsea needed three points after Liverpool’s win over Fulham, but they could not make their home advantage count against a well-organised Everton side and failed to score for only the second time in the league this season.
After a tight and often scrappy first half, Chelsea improved in the second period but, despite remaining unbeaten in the league, they were unable to convert their chances.
Everton’s England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who produced a fine save from a Marcos Alonso volley earlier, prevented Alvaro Morata from opening the scoring immediately after the restart with a dive to his right.
The result saw Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri set a new record for the longest unbeaten run by a new Premier League manager after 12 games. |