Sanchez on target as United beat Huddersfield
Guardiola frustrated by ‘most British’ Burnley
MANCHESTER United’s Alexis Sanchez scored his first goal for the club and Romelo Lukaku was also on target as they closed the gap at the top of the Premier League to 13 points with a 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town yesterday.
After Burnley had held league leaders Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor in the early kickoff, the pressure was on United to take advantage but they struggled to find any rhythm in the first half as Huddersfield stood firm.
However, 10 minutes into the second half the hosts went in front when Romelu Lukaku met Juan Mata’s cross to score his fourth goal in his last six appearances before Sanchez stroked the ball home after his 68th minute penalty was saved.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said their performance in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Burnley was one of the best of the season but the Spaniard was frustrated by his side’s failure to score more goals against what he called “the most British of teams”.
City had over 70 percent possession against Sean Dyche’s team but after Brazilian Danilo gave the visitors a 22nd minute lead, they failed to turn that dominance into goals and paid the price when Johann Berg Gudmundsson levelled in the 82nd.
“Of course we are frustrated in terms of the result but the performance was outstanding against a Burnley side who are the most British of teams in terms of long balls and the way they play,” said Guardiola after the Premier League game.
West Bromwich Albion were left stuck at the bottom of the Premier League after losing 3-2 to Southampton.
It was an emotional day at the Hawthorns where there was a minute’s applause before the game for their former striker Cyrille Regis, who died last month.
A turbulent week for Leicester City took a turn for the worse when Swansea fought back for a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium to continue their revival under Carlos Carvalhal.
Leicester left out midfielder Riyad Mahrez after the Algerian missed training following his abortive attempt to join Manchester City but his replacement Kelechi Iheanacho soon impressed by setting up Jamie Vardy for his sixth goal in nine games.
Swansea suffered a further blow when midfielder Leroy Fer was carried off after twisting his ankle under Adrien Silva’s challenge but the bad news ended there for the visitors who equalised after the break when Federico Fernandez headed in only his second goal in 116 games for the Welsh side.
Substitute Lys Mousset came off the bench to score his first Premier League goal for Bournemouth as they came back from a goal down to beat Stoke City 2-1.
Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri put visitors Stoke in front in the fifth minute, the diminutive winger heading home unmarked from Badou Ndiaye’s cross.
Bournemouth upped the tempo in the second half and had plenty of chances to score, but it took until the 70th minute for Joshua King to put them back on level terms. Bournemouth continued to attack and nine minutes later Mousset nodded home Jordon Ibe’s free kick for the simplest of finishes.
Aaron Ramsey scored a hat-trick as Arsenal thrashed Everton 5-1 at the Emirates yesterday. Record signing Pierreemerick Aubameyan scored on debut and defender Laurent Koscielny also got on the scoresheet. Dominic Calvert-lewin scored a consolation goal for the hapless vistors. – Reuters Bournemouth 2 Stoke City 1
Manchester United 2 Huddersfield Town 0 West Bromwich Albion 2 Southampton 3 Brighton & Hove Albion 3 West Ham 1 Leicester City 1 Swansea City 1
Burnley 1 Manchester City 1
Arsenal 5 Everton 1
TODAY
Crystal Palace v Newcastle United 4.15pm Liverpool vtottenham Hotspur 6.30pm
TOMORROW
Watford v Chelsea 10pm
P W D L F A Pts Man City ............... 26 22 3 1 74 19 69 Manunited .......... 26 17 5 4 51 18 56 Liverpool ............... 25 14 8 3 57 29 50 Chelsea ................ 25 15 5 5 45 19 50 Tottenham ............ 25 14 6 5 49 22 48 Arsenal ................. 26 13 6 7 51 35 45 Burnley ................. 26 9 9 8 21 23 36 Leicester City ....... 26 9 8 9 38 35 35 Bournemouth ....... 26 8 7 11 30 37 31 Everton ................. 26 8 7 11 29 45 31 Watford ................. 25 7 6 12 33 44 27 West Ham ............ 26 6 9 11 32 46 27 Brighton & Hove .. 26 6 9 11 21 35 27 Southampton ....... 26 5 11 10 28 38 26 Crystal Palace ...... 25 6 8 11 23 38 26 Newcastle United. 25 6 6 13 23 35 24 Swansea City ....... 26 6 6 14 19 37 24 Stoke City ............. 26 6 6 14 26 52 24 Huddersfield Town26 6 6 14 19 46 24 West Bromwich .... 26 3 11 12 21 37 20