ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester City 1
Tottenham Hotspur 0
LONDON • Revenge might not be exactly the right word, given that the European dimension of Manchester City's quadruple attempt was probably the one that mattered most to them.
But Pep Guardiola will have been satisfied with the reaction his players showed after the draining events of last Wednesday evening, which saw them exit the Champions League, with Spurs prevailing on away goals despite a 4-3 defeat.
The City manager had confessed he had no idea how his side may be affected by such a cruel late setback, with Raheem Sterling thinking he had scored the winner only to see his goal chalked off by the video assistant referee.
However, they gave one of their more solid performances of the season to take three points from a gutsy and resolute Spurs team to move back to the top of the Premier League table yesterday.
Guardiola admitted his relief that "the title is still in our hands as we could have lost the Premier League today".
He told BBC Sport: "It was a real tough game after our mental defeat on Wednesday. The last two days have been really tough for us."
This was not City at their fluent, most incisive best, but Liverpool and Manchester United will still have been impressed after their 10th league win in a row - the best run by any team this season.
As their nearest challengers for the title, Jurgen Klopp's Reds are well aware of the difficulty of grinding out results against stubborn opponents at this stage of the season.
And United, who host City next on Wednesday, will find it challenging to defend for 90 minutes as well as Spurs did after Phil Foden's fifth-minute opener.
Realistically, the third meeting of these sides within a fortnight was never going to live up to the breathless excitement of midweek, but both teams deserve credit for producing professional performances after their exertions in Europe.
The only drawback from City's point of view was the sight of Kevin de Bruyne limping off before the break, though they have prospered without the influential Belgium midfielder for much of the term and appear equipped to do so again.
Bernardo Silva is one of the less celebrated names on the six-man shortlist released yesterday for the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year award, the others being teammates Sterling and Sergio Aguero, the Liverpool duo of Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk, and Chelsea's Eden Hazard.
The Portugal midfielder, however, was instrumental in creating the only goal, cutting in from the right to pick out Aguero at the far post, who nodded the ball back across the goal, where Foden's reward for following up assiduously was his maiden strike in the league.
The early breakthrough raised hopes that the game might be an end-to-end goal-fest to resemble the epic match three days earlier.
Yet the rest of the game was relatively muted, with the home side comfortably in control for the most part, without finding their cutting edge.
Spurs were reduced to sending long balls in the direction of South Korean forward Son Heung-min.
Guardiola, calling the Reds "one of the best teams I've seen in my whole life", added: "We are fighting with the best Liverpool ever.
"If we win (the title), we'll be so happy. Even if we don't do it, we've been on a remarkable run. Every day with this club and these players. It doesn't matter what happens next. We'll fight until the end - we'll see how far we get."
THE GUARDIAN
Football: Sarri fears Chelsea ban will ruin title hopes. Chelsea's success next season hinges on transfer ban being lifted, says former striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
More racial abuse cases heighten calls for action
Football: Molde owners will support me if I stay at
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's winning start as Manchester United's caretaker manager ended with a 2-2 draw at home to Burnley, but his team escaped from defeat in spirited fashion with Goals from Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood had given Burnley a 2-0 lead before a late assault from United with a penalty from Paul Pogba in the 87th
Solskjaer lavishes praise on De Gea after United maintain
Gini Wijnaldum has revealed what Liverpool have learned from their defeat at Manchester City earlier this month. The Reds were beaten 2-1 at the Etihad on January 3 in a dramatic encounter between
Klopp: Reds can make the next step | eir Sport
Manchester City have recorded a dramatic 3-2 victory over Schalke 04 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday night. City took an early lead through Sergio Aguero, but two penalties from Nabil Bentaleb gave Schalke a half-time advantage and City were left further
Result: Manchester City stun Schalke 04 with late comeback in
Qatar not the favourites, says coach Sanchez. Qatar's Almoez Ali celebrating with Hassan Al-Haydos after scoring his team's goal in the 2-0 Asian Cup win over Saudi Arabia on Thursday. The Qataris
Qatar keen to impress at Copa America, says coach Sanchez
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was left disappointed by the performance of his players in their slim win over Watford on Saturday evening. The Red Devils huffed and puffed against Watford but they were still able to get the three points at stake in their bid to secure Champions League football for next season […]
Victor Lindelof missed Man Utd vs Watford after receiving
Liverpool could match Arsenal's Invincibles by going through a Premier League season without defeat, according to Unai Emery. Jurgen Klopp's side reached the halfway stage of the campaign with a 4-0 Boxing Day defeat of Newcastle United at Anfield, a result that moved the Reds six points clear at the top of the table.
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool can be the new 'Invincibles', says
Fifa says more than 3.5 billion people viewed some of the 2018 World Cup, with 1.12 billion watching at least one minute of France beating Croatia 4-2 in the final.. A Fifa-commissioned review of World Cup viewing says the final's television audience was 516.6 million by the traditional measure of "global average in-home audience."
Record Audience Watched 'Best World Cup Ever' in Russia, FIFA
Substitute striker Javier Hernandez scored a late brace including a stoppage-time winner to help West Ham United beat Huddersfield Town 4-3. Home football; it late to see off spirited
West Ham leave it late to see off spirited Huddersfield
Cristiano Ronaldo isn't just one of the greatest on the pitch; he's the G.O.A.T. off it, too. Take a trip inside the mad world of CR7's brands.
'Until next year' - Ronaldo hints he's staying put as Madrid
0 comments:
Post a Comment