Skip to main content

De Bruyne keeps Man City flying, Arsenal win derby


Manchester City retained control of the Premier League title race after fine goals by Gabriel Jesus and Kevin De Bruyne secured a 2-0 win at Leicester City on Saturday.

Jesus and De Bruyne struck either side of half-time at the King Power Stadium as Pep Guardiola’s ruthless side registered a 16th successive victory in all competitions.

Champions Chelsea climbed to second place with a 4-0 win at West Bromwich Albion in which Eden Hazard scored twice, while Arsenal engineered an impressive 2-0 win over derby rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

City provisionally moved nine points clear at the top of the table, although Manchester United can trim their lead back to eight points if they beat Newcastle United in the day’s late game.

City captain Vincent Kompany made his first league start since August following his latest calf injury, but fellow centre-back John Stones was forced off in the first half with an apparent hamstring problem.

Jesus tapped in David Silva’s pass on the stroke of half-time after a slick move involving De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling.

De Bruyne added a brilliant second four minutes into the second half when he completed an electrifying break by rifling a glorious left-foot shot into the top-left corner from outside the area.

Chelsea piled the pressure on West Brom manager Tony Pulis with a breezy win at The Hawthorns, where Antonio Conte’s side secured the title last season.

Alvaro Morata put Chelsea ahead in the 17th minute after Ben Foster saved from Hazard and the Spaniard’s flick freed Hazard to round Foster and double the visitors’ advantage six minutes later.

Marcos Alonso slammed home at the back post from Cesc Fabregas’s free-kick in the 38th minute and Hazard completed the scoring just after the hour.

Quick-fire first-half goals by Shkodran Mustafi and Alexis Sanchez earned Arsenal a richly deserved victory over Tottenham in the north London derby.

“They had the urgency, the desire and the focus,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said of his players.

“In a derby like that, that plays a part. We didn’t lose the defensive focus for 90 minutes.”

– Salah top scorer –
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino felt, with justification, that the free-kick that led to Mustafi’s goal should not have been awarded and that Mustafi had been offside.

“You saw what happened during the game,” Pochettino told Sky Sports at the Emirates Stadium.

“I’m disappointed because the small details were against us, which makes it difficult to win.”

It was Arsenal’s first league victory over Spurs since March 2014 and left them a point below their local rivals in sixth place.

Liverpool are level on points with Arsenal in fifth after a routine 3-0 home win over Southampton at Anfield.

Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah scored two first-half goals — the first a magnificent curler — to become the Premier League’s leading scorer on nine goals, with Philippe Coutinho adding a third.

High-flying Burnley also sit on 22 points after Jack Cork and Ashley Barnes scored in a 2-0 home win over second-bottom Swansea City.

Bottom club Crystal Palace were twice pegged back in a lively 2-2 home draw with Everton, for whom David Unsworth remains in charge on a caretaker basis.

James McArthur’s opener after 48 seconds was cancelled out by a Leighton Baines penalty and although Wilfried Zaha restored Palace’s lead, Oumar Niasse levelled again on the cusp of half-time.

Callum Wilson netted a hat-trick as Bournemouth moved clear of the relegation zone by beating Huddersfield Town 4-0.

Harry Arter also found the net for Bournemouth, who were untroubled by the dismissal of defender Simon Francis in first-half injury time for two bookable offences.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Comment here

Popular posts from this blog

Are you over 100? Then you've got a better chance of living even longer!

It’s considered an inescapable fact of life: the older you get, the more likely death becomes. But a new research conucted in Germany disproves of that suggestinh that the chances of dying may level off – at least for those who make it to 105 years old. The study found that death rates, which rise exponentially in adulthood, begin to decelerate after 80 years old and appear to eventually plateau, or even decline slightly, after the age of 105. By that point, the chances of passing away in a given year are approximately 50-50. “It’s the equivalent of tossing a coin each year,” said Prof Jim Vaupel, a specialist in ageing at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany and one of the authors. The findings add fuel to an unusually hostile debate between two camps of scientists, who are locked in an escalating dispute about whether humans are approaching their upper limit in terms of lifespan. The latest paper, from Vaupel’s team who argue there is no evidence of a loom...
Post a Comment
Read more

Iranian police arrest 29 for involvement in hijab protests

Police in the Iranian capital, Tehran, have arrested 29 people for their involvement in protests against the country's compulsory headscarf law. Masih Alinejad, the Iranian activist behind the "White Wednesday" social media campaign against mandatory hijabs, who is now based in the US, told CNN that the movement has not been influenced from abroad. The wave of anti-goverment demonstrations last month was sparked by concerns over rising living costs and a stagnant economy, but also provided an opening for Iranian women to push for equal rights. In the past, women who allowed their hijab to slip could be admonished by the religious police, but these forces have been less prominent under the regime of President Hassan Rouhani. Soheila Jaloodarzadeh, a female member of the Iranian Parliament, said on Wednesday during an event on women's rights that the protests were the conclusion of years of restrictions, the semiofficial Ilna news agency reported.
Post a Comment
Read more

UPDATED: Swansea hire Carvalhal as boss until end of season

Premier League strugglers Swansea City appointed Carlos Carvalhal as their manager until the end of the season on Thursday. Carvalhal was sacked by second-tier Sheffield Wednesday on Christmas Eve, but Swansea surprisingly chose the Portuguese coach to replace Paul Clement, who lost his job on December 20 with the club languishing at the bottom of the Premier League. The Welsh club said Carvalhal’s contract included the option of an extension at the end of the season. “We felt we needed to get the managerial situation resolved as soon as possible and while the timing is not always perfect, we can look forward to the second half of the campaign with renewed optimism,” Swanseachairman Huw Jenkins said. To convince Swansea to keep him beyond this season, Carvalhal might have to save his new club from relegation. They sit five points from safety and bottom of the table with no wins in their last four matches after a 5-0 thrashing at Liverpool on Tuesday. Carvalhal is Swansea’s fifth...
Post a Comment
Read more