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
Alexandria Villasenor, 13, skips school on Fridays to strike in the name of climate change. Every week, rain or shine, she sits on a bench in front of the United Nations, in New York City with her
Europe's Striking Climate Kids Show How to Defeat the Far
Casillas has heart attack but Porto says he is out of danger
Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette will be available for the Lacazette free to face Rennes as ban reduced international's three-match European ban was reduced to two by UEFA on
Australia's professional female footballers secured a landmark pay rise Friday that will see them receive the same minimum wage as their male counterparts. Under a new collective bargaining agreement unveiled on the eve of the World Cup in France, the base annual pay for players in the W-League was
Australian female footballers to earn same base pay as men
So, just who has the easiest run-in? talkSPORT have taken a look through the top six club's remaining fixtures, and ranked them from the hardest to the easiest run-in… You can see them all by
Premier League top-four race: Who has the best run-in
Japan coach disappointed but pleased with progress at Asian Cup but former coach Stephen Constantine says the team's spirited showing in the Asian Cup football tournament has earned them
Spurs blasted for lacking hunger, mental strength, Football
Football: 10-man Arsenal slump in Rennes, Sevilla held, in Europa League RENNES, France (REUTERS) - Arsenal took an early lead but a red card for Sokratis Papastathopoulos changed the game as the Gunners slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Rennes on a night of tightly-contested Europa League last-16 first-leg ties on Thursday (March 7).
Soccer-10-man Arsenal slump in Rennes, Sevilla held - Reuters
Marcus Rashford (born 31 October 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and the English national team.. A Manchester United player from the age of seven, he scored two goals on both his first-team debut against Midtjylland in the UEFA Europa League in February 2016 and his Premier League debut against Arsenal three days later.
Italian World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro was named coach of China on Friday, spearheading the ambitious country's attempts to become a footballing force at last. It was not immediately
Italian legend Cannavaro named new coach of China - World
worldsoccertalk.com/2019/03/15/italian-legend-cannavaro-named-new-coach-of-china/
Italian legend Cannavaro named new coach of China AFP March 15, 2019 AFP No Comments Shanghai (AFP) - Italian World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro was named coach of China on Friday, spearheading the ambitious country's attempts to become a footballing force at last.
Football » News » Legend Cannavaro named new coach of China
Aaron Ramsey has agreed a five-year deal with Juventus and will leave Arsenal at the end of the season, according to reports in Italy. Ramsey has been in talks with Juventus since last year.
Ramsey agrees to join Juventus on a five-year deal worth €40m
0 comments:
Post a Comment