Gulf News

LEAGUE LEADERS MADE TO PAY FOR EXTRAORDIN­ARY MISS BY STERLING

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lexis Sanchez scored his first goal for Manchester United as Jose Mourinho’s men took advantage of a rare slip-up from Manchester City to close to within 13 points of the league leaders with a 2-0 win over Huddersfie­ld Town.

City were made to pay for an extraordin­ary miss by Raheem Sterling as they dropped points for just the fourth time in the Premier League this season in a 1-1 draw at Burnley as Johann Berg Gudmundsso­n’s equaliser eight minutes from time cancelled out Danilo’s spectacula­r opener for City.

United manager Mourinho conceded his side were playing for second place after falling 15 points behind City with defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, and showed his displeasur­e at that performanc­e by dropping star midfielder Paul Pogba to the bench among four changes.

A minute’s silence preceded kick-off at Old Trafford as United paid tribute to the victims of the Munich disaster 60 years on from the tragedy that killed eight of the great United Busby Babes.

Mourinho had called on his players to mark the occasion by bouncing back in style, but the hosts had to wait until 10 minutes into the second half to make the breakthrou­gh when Lukaku got across his marker to volley home Juan Mata’s cross from the left for his 19th goal of the season.

Sanchez was then given the chance to cap his home debut 21 minutes from time when he was brought down just inside the area Michael Hefele.

And much to the Chilean’s relief, he tapped home the rebound after Jonas Lossl had saved his initial effort from the penalty spot to open his United account after joining from Arsenal on reportedly the biggest ever contract in Premier League history.

City were made to rue a slew of missed chances, most notably when Sterling failed to turn Kyle Walker’s low cross into an unguarded net from point-blank range as Burnley salvaged a valuable point despite seeing their winless league streak extended to nine matches. “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 City boss Pep Guardiola.

Leicester City missed the magic of star man Riyad Mahrez as they failed to beat Swansea City at home in a 1-1 draw. The Algerian hasn’t trained since Leicester priced Manchester City out of a move for Mahrez on transfer deadline day on Wednesday.

Unbeaten run

Jamie Vardy smashed the hosts in front, but Swansea’s rise under Carlos Carvalhal continued as they extended their unbeaten run to seven games thanks to Federico Fernandez’s equaliser to edge out of the bottom three on goal difference.

In a big day in the battle to beat the drop at the bottom of the table, Southampto­n recorded their first win since November, 3-2 at West Brom, to move out of the relegation zone and up to 14th.

West Brom paid tribute to club legend Cyrille Regis, who died Manchester City Stoke West Ham Swansea Huddersfie­ld Southampto­n 1 1 1 1 0 3 last month, before kick-off and got off to a flying start through Ahmad Hegazi’s header. However, three quickfire goals from Mario Lemina, Jack Stephens and James Ward-Prowse either side of half-time put Southampto­n in charge before Salomon Rondon’s consolatio­n for West Brom.

Brighton also bagged their first league win in seven games thanks to goals from Glenn Murray, Jose Izquierdo and Pascal Gross to beat West Ham 3-1.

And Bournemout­h moved up to ninth as they came from behind to beat Stoke City 2-1 through strikes from Josh King and Lys Mousset in the final 20 minutes to drop Stoke back into the drop zone.

 ?? Reuters ?? Manchester City’s Danilo celebrates scoring their first goal with Bernardo Silva during a Premier League match in the Turf Moor yesterday.
Reuters Manchester City’s Danilo celebrates scoring their first goal with Bernardo Silva during a Premier League match in the Turf Moor yesterday.
 ?? AFP ?? Manchester United’s midfielder Scott McTominay challenges for a high ball with Huddersfie­ld Town’s striker Laurent Depoitre (second from right) at Old Trafford yesterday.
AFP Manchester United’s midfielder Scott McTominay challenges for a high ball with Huddersfie­ld Town’s striker Laurent Depoitre (second from right) at Old Trafford yesterday.

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