City move closer to title
MANCHESTER City moved a step closer to retaining the Premier League title with a 5-0 demolition of Newcastle United, while Arsenal beat relegation-threatened Leeds United 2-1 to boost their bid for a top-four finish yesterday.
Pep Guardiola’s team took control before halftime at the Etihad Stadium thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Aymeric Laporte.
Rodri got City’s third after the break before Phil Foden and Sterling struck in stoppage time as they stormed back to the top of the table.
Liverpool had knocked the champions out of pole position with their 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. But City are now three points clear of Liverpool, with three games left for both teams. Guardiola’s men hold a goal difference four better than the Reds.
Quadruple-chasing Liverpool are next in action at Aston Villa tomorrow, while City head to Wolves 24 hours later.
City’s stroll against Newcastle was the ideal way to recover from their painful Champions League semi-final exit against Real Madrid on Wednesday. Real had scored twice in the final seconds of normal time before winning in extra time, leaving Guardiola to lament there were “no words to help” his players get over the loss.
But City can exorcise those demons by winning a fourth English title in five seasons and this was a step in the right direction.
In the 19th minute, Joao Cancelo nodded an Ilkay Gundogan cross towards Sterling and he dived to head in from close-range.
City doubled their lead after 38 minutes when Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka was unable to hold onto Gundogan’s volley and Laporte scrambled home. Rodri scored with a 61st minute header from Kevin De Bruyne’s corner, then Foden diverted Oleksandr Zinchenko’s shot into the net in the 90th minute.
Sterling rounded off the rout in stoppage-time with a cool finish from Jack Grealish’s pass. Eddie Nketiah netted twice in the first 10 minutes at the Emirates Stadium as Mikel Arteta’s side earned their fourth successive win.
Leeds had captain Luke Ayling sent off and, although Diego Llorente got one back in the 66th minute, it was too little, too late for Jesse Marsch’s strugglers.
Fourth-placed Arsenal are four points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham, with three games left for both teams in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League via a top-four finish. Arsenal will visit Tottenham on Thursday knowing a win in the north London derby would guarantee their first Champions League campaign since 2016-17.
Nketiah spent time on loan at Leeds earlier in his career, but the Arsenal forward showed no mercy to his old club. In the fifth minute, Nketiah punished a poor touch from Illan Meslier, closing down the Leeds keeper and tapping into the empty net.
Nketiah struck again five minutes later, this time meeting Gabriel Martinelli’s cross with a fine finish from 12 yards. Ayling was sent off after a VAR review of his crude lunge on Martinelli in the 27th minute.
Leeds slump into the relegation zone, sitting third bottom due to having a worse goal difference than Burnley. Everton made the most of Leeds’ stumble to climb out of the bottom three as they won 2-1 at Leicester City - their first away success in the league since August. Ukrainian left-back Vitaliy Mykolenko ran onto Alex Iwobi’s flick and netted with a stunning volley from the edge of the area in the sixth minute. Everton surrendered the lead five minutes later as Yerry Mina and Seamus Coleman went up for a header, only to collide and allow Patson Daka to run through and beat Jordan Pickford.
However, Mason Holgate won it for Everton in the 30th minute, the defender converting the rebound after Kasper Schmeichel saved Richarlison’s header.