MANCHESTER (AFP) – Sergio Aguero grabbed a hat-trick as Manchester City scored four times inside 25 minutes to thrash Chelsea 6-0 and leapfrog Liverpool again to top spot in the Premier League on goal difference on Sunday (Feb 10).Â
Aguero should have had even more than three as the Argentine missed a glorious early chance and hit the bar in the second-half in a humiliating afternoon for Maurizio Sarri’s men.Â
Raheem Sterling started and ended the scoring and Ilkay Gundogan also netted in the first quarter of the game as City ended what could have been a testing week with a trip to Everton in between the visits of Arsenal and Chelsea with maximum points.Â
Jurgen Klopp’s men maintain the advantage of a game in hand, but handed a reprieve by Liverpool’s draws against Leicester and West Ham in recent weeks, City look determined to become the first side in a decade to retain the Premier League. Chelsea on the other hand slip to sixth with the scale of the defeat sure to raise further doubts over Sarri’s future.Â
A 4-0 defeat to Bournemouth in their last away game was Chelsea’s heaviest league defeat since 1996. And this was their worst loss in any competition since 1991 after failing to recover from Sterling’s fourth-minute opener.Â
Eden Hazard went to sleep from Kevin de Bruyne’s quickly taken free-kick and Bernardo Silva had acres of space to cross for the England international to fire home. Pep Guardiola had described this match as a “final†for his side given that Chelsea had a week to prepare, while City ground out a 2-0 win at Everton on Wednesday.Â
Guardiola fell to the floor in exasperation when Aguero somehow side-footed wide with his easiest chance of the game moments later.Â
Â
But the Catalan coach need not have worried that would prove a costly miss as Aguero made amends in stunning fashion by blasting into the top corner from 25 yards to double City’s after just 13 minutes. Aguero had a simple task to make it 3-0 six minutes later when he pounced on Ross Barkley’s slack header towards his own goal.Â
And Gundogan’s shot from the edge of the area then had too much power for the world’s most expensive goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to compound Chelsea’s woes.Â
Such was the defensive collapse at the other end, Gonzalo Higuain had little chance to shine but the Argentine striker was unfortunate not to score his third goal in as many league starts for Chelsea when Ederson turned over his dipping volley five minutes before the break.Â
That was as much of a response as Chelsea mustered, though, and it only got worse for Sarri’s chances of keeping his job in the second period. Aguero missed his first chance to seal a second hat-trick in two games when he headed against the crossbar.Â
But when Sterling was too quick for Cesar Azpilicueta and chopped down by the Spaniard inside the area, Aguero coolly slotted home from the penalty spot to move level with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah as the Premier League’s top scorer on 17 for the season.Â
Even after Aguero went off to a standing ovation, City’s strength in depth shone through as Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez and David Silva came off the bench.Â
And Silva’s pass opened the visitors up again for the sixth as he picked out Oleksandr Zinchenko who crossed for Sterling to tap home.
Indian Football: 3 Deserving Players who could be called up for national team by new coach Igor Stimac MSN; School football coaches to be licenced , says Ogwel Daily Monitor; We need to keep improving: Singapore football association chief Lim Kia Tong The Straits Times; Qatar's 'Challenge 22' winning app SnapGoal aiming to unite football fans Goal
Lim Kia Tong elected new FAS president - ESPN
That is part of football." File photo: Anfield stadium is home of Liverpool Football Club one of the most successful English Premier League football clubs. Image: shutterstock. Liverpool could end a 29-year wait for the league title if they can hold on until the end of the season and Klopp knows the club's fans are likely to be feeling tense.
Klopp dismisses talk of Liverpool crumbling under pressure
Pep Guardiola challenges Manchester City to beat Liverpool to stay in Premier League title race Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says their next game against Liverpool will be like a final Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City must beat Liverpool on Thursday in order to maintain their Premier League title bid.
EPL: Guardiola reveals what Manchester City must do to beat
Klopp pointed to City's financial power, backed by the club's Abu Dhabi owners, as a principal reason why they will not be easy to overhaul. However, unlike Manchester United, who ended the season as close to the relegation zone as they were to City, 32 points behind the champions in sixth, City have invested their money wisely.
Football: Valencia chairman Murthy says King's Cup victory 'icing on the cake' to a fine season
Football: Valencia chairman Murthy says King's Cup victory
virginiabus.info/sports/football-valencia-chairman-murthy-says-kings-cup-victory-icing-on-the-cake-to-a-fine-season/
For Valencia chairman Anil Murthy, it was the "icing on the cake" in a remarkable season that also saw them finish fourth in LaLiga to remain in the Champions League, and make the final four of the Europa League, where they were knocked out by Arsenal. They also remained unbeaten against Barcelona.
Newspapers | Media | Virginia Bus
virginiabus.info/news/magnitude-8-0-hits-northern-peru-usgs/
LIMA (AFP, REUTERS) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 stuck northern Peru, the United States Geological Survey reported on Sunday (May 26). The epicentre of the quake was 75km south-south-east of Lagunas at a depth of about 110km, it added.
Barcelona News, Scores, Schedule, Stats, Teamsheet - soccer
Serie A: Napoli draw puts Massimiliano Allegri's Juventus coronation on hold Description: Juventus now have a 20-point advantage on Napoli with seven games to play. A draw next week at lowly SPAL would be enough to win the title, still in record time with six games to spare.
Napoli draw puts Juventus coronation on hold - sports.yahoo.com
Sport24.co.za | Madrid plans 'robust' security for all-English Champions League final Spain - Madrid will deploy an unprecedented number of police and security personnel for Saturday's all-English Champions League final, and use a drone for the first time to monitor fan activity.
5 things to know about Liverpool's 4-0 Champions League win
NEW DELHI: Delhi Dynamos will look to start their campaign on a winning note when they lock horns with FC Pune City in their Indian Super League season opener Wednesday. The Dynamos would look to
Football: Pele recovering well after kidney stone operation SAO PAULO (REUTERS) - Brazilian soccer great Pele had a successful operation to remove a kidney stone on Saturday (April 13), doctors in Sao Paulo said.
Pele recovering well after kidney stone operation - Football
LONDON: Aston Villa returned to the Premier League, after a three year absence, beating Derby County 2-1 in the Championship playoff final at Wembley on Monday (May 27). Goals from Anwar El Ghazi
Soccer: Villa return to Premier League with win over Derby
Former Arsenal, Real Madrid and Spain star Jose Antonio Reyes has been killed in a car crash, his hometown club Sevilla said on Saturday. He was 35. Reyes, who shot to fame at Sevilla before a
Former Arsenal and Sevilla star Jose Antonio Reyes dies in
MADRID (Reuters) - Holders Real Madrid were sensationally knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday after being thrashed 4-1 at home by an outstanding Ajax Amsterdam who overturned a first
Real Madrid knocked out of Champions League by brilliant Ajax
Chelsea suffered a setback in their push for a Champions League spot when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Burnley in the Premier League on Monday and tempers flared at the end of the match
Chelsea held 2-2 by Burnley, denting Champions League hopes
0 comments:
Post a Comment