Pogba’s magic stuns Man City
PAUL POGBA was Manchester United’s hero as his quickfire double sparked the comeback that saw rivals City throw away a two-goal lead and the chance to seal the Premier League title.
Goals from skipper Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan had given Pep Guardiola’s men one hand on the trophy. But Pogba got two in two minutes from the 53rd minute to level it up.
Chris Smalling, who was to blame for Kompany’s opener, then got the 69th-minute winner when he connected with Alexis Sanchez’s pinpoint delivery.
A stunning David De Gea save then denied Sergio Aguero from levelling it up late on as tempers flared in a number of flashpoints. Liverpool survived a late spell of Everton pressure to stretch their record unbeaten run in Merseyside derbies to 17 games after a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park that consolidated their hold on third place.
Neither Mo Salah nor Roberto Firmino featured in a Liverpool starting line-up that included five changes from
Garcia’s Masters mired in misery
SERGIO GARCIA’S US Masters title defence was torpedoed when he carded an eight-over 13 on the 15th hole of his opening round and his hold on the Green Jacket sank without trace when the Spaniard shot a six-over 78 on Friday.
As horrifying as Garcia’s tie for the worst-ever single hole score at the Masters was on Thursday, the Spaniard’s second round may have been even worse, as he added a double-bogey to six more dropped shots on a day when he managed just two birdies.
An opening round 81 combined with Friday’s 78 for a halfway total of 15-over-par 159, meant Garcia was rooted near the bottom of the leader board as he missed the fiveover cut-line by a whopping 10 shots.
The only players to register worse scores were amateurs Matt Parziale (+16) and Harry Ellis (+22).
Danny Willett is one man capable of sharing Garcia’s pain, after the 2016 champion saw his title defence evaporate in two days last year, and the Briton repeated the feat this time, following rounds of 75 and 76. – Reuters the one that faced Manchester City in midweek but Juergen Klopp’s side still had the better of the game with Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford pulling off impressive first-half saves from Solanke, Milner and Van Dyke.
Liverpool keeper Loris Karius also had to be at his best to deal with a curling shot from the otherwise ineffectual Yannick Bolasie, although Everton seldom showed the forward momentum to threaten his goal. Christian Eriksen maintained his hot goalscoring streak, striking both goals in Tottenham’s 2-1 win at struggling Stoke City.
Eriksen struck twice in 11 minutes after halftime to take his tally to five goals in three games. He struck after 52 minutes before a mistake from Hugo Lloris allowed Mame Biram Diouf to equalise within five minutes. Eriksen then curled in a fiendish 63rd-minute freekick to which Harry Kane claimed to have got the faintest finishing touch with his head, only for replays to show the Dane had scored.
Though Xherdan Shaqiri led a late fightback for the home side, hitting the bar with a freekick,stoke remain rooted one from bottom.
A goal in each half from Jonjo Shelvey and Ayoze Perez gave Newcastle United a precious 2-1 victory over Leicester City, a third win in a row that moves the Magpies another step closer to survival in the Premier League.
Shelvey opened the scoring when he received the ball just outside the area at the end of a sweeping move up the left flank, taking a touch to elude Leicester defender Harry Maguire before rifling home the ball in the 18th minute.
Winger Riyad Mahrez thought he had won a penalty when he went down in the box shortly before halftime but the referee waved away the appeals of the Leicester players. A defensive mix-up between Maguire and Wes Morgan allowed Perez to nip in and lob the ball over Kasper Schmeichel to make it 2-0, and though Jamie Vardy pulled back a late goal for Leicester, Newcastle held on to win.
Tammy Abraham scored his first goal in 18 League games to secure Swansea City a 1-1 draw at basement side West Bromwich Albion. –-Reuters