Raheem Sterling shone for Manchester City and Romelu Lukaku delivered
for Manchester United as the Manchester clubs maintained their grip on
the Premier League title race with victories yesterday.
Sterling scored a brace as City crushed bottom club Crystal Palace 5-0
to go top on goal difference above United, who won 1-0 at Southampton
courtesy of Lukaku’s first-half goal. Champions Chelsea, Tottenham
Hotspur and Liverpool all kept pace with the top two, putting the
pressure on Arsenal, who host West Bromwich Albion tomorrow.
“The first half we had problems as the ball must be moved and we didn’t
move it,” said City manager Pep Guardiola. “But the last 10-15 minutes
of the half, we got it. The second half was much, much better. (Leroy)
Sane’s (opening) goal was so important.”
Palace have lost their first six games of the season after crashing to a
heavy defeat at the Etihad Stadium in Roy Hodgson’s second league game
as manager. City went in front shortly before half-time when Leroy Sane
converted after a one-two with David Silva.
Sterling’s quick-fire double took the game beyond Palace, the England
forward tapping in passes from Sane and Sergio Aguero in the 51st and
59th minutes. Aguero made it 4-0, heading in Sane’s cross to close to
within one goal of Eric Brook’s all-time City record of 177 goals,
before Fabian Delph curled in a fine fifth.
Guardiola’s side have scored 16 goals in their last three league games,
having previously trounced Liverpool 5-0 and won 6-0 at Watford. City
left-back Benjamin Mendy will undergo tests today after a knee injury
forced him off in the first half.
United had a rather less straightforward afternoon at Southampton, but
they prevailed thanks to Lukaku’s sixth goal of the campaign. The
Belgium international struck in the 20th minute, scoring at the second
attempt after his header from Ashley Young’s in-swinging cross was saved
by Fraser Forster.
“It is not always possible to operate at high quality, but we fought
hard,” United manager Jose Mourinho said Sports after being sent to the
stands in stoppage time for encroaching onto the pitch. “It was a hard
game, but I am really happy.”
United’s fans again aired a chant about Lukaku that draws on racial
stereotypes about black men’s penises and the club said they had
requested CCTV footage from Southampton to identify the culprits.
Chelsea remain three points off the pace in third place after Alvaro
Morata scored a hat-trick in a breezy 4-0 win at Stoke City, with Pedro
also on target. “Morata played a good game, a really good performance,”
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said. “Now he has to continue this way to
be a great striker.”
Philippe Coutinho scored a stunning free-kick — his first goal since
being refused a transfer to Barcelona — as Liverpool narrowly won 3-2 at
Leicester City. Mohamed Salah and Jordan Henderson were also on target,
but Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy replied for Leicester and Liverpool
were indebted to Simon Mignolet for saving Vardy’s 73rd-minute penalty.
Harry Kane took his tally to six goals in four games as Tottenham won
3-2 at West Ham United to chalk up a third successive away win. Kane’s
first-half brace and a Christian Eriksen effort put Spurs 3-0 up before
Serge Aurier was sent off and West Ham came back into the game through
Javier Hernandez and Cheikhou Kouyate.
Liverpool and Spurs are level on 11 points, five points leader.
Second-half substitute Oumar Niasse netted twice as Everton snapped a
run of three successive defeats by coming from behind to win 2-1 at home
to Bournemouth, who had gone ahead through Josh King. Richarlison’s
89th-minute strike saw Watford snatch a 2-1 win at Swansea City, who are
still without a home win, while Burnley and Huddersfield Town played
out a goalless draw at Turf Moor.
Premier League results
Burnley 0 Huddersfield 0
Everton 2 (Niasse 77, 82) Bournemouth 1 (King 49)
Leicester 2 (Okazaki 45+3, Vardy 69) Liverpool 3 (Salah 16, Coutinho 23, Henderson 68)
Manchester City 5 (Sane 44, Sterling 51, 59, Augero 79, Delph 89) Crystal Palace 0
Southampton 0 Manchester United 1 (Lukaku 20)
Stoke 0 Chelsea 4 (Morata 2, 77, 82, Pedro 30)
Swansea 1 (Abraham 56) Watford 2 (Gray 13, Richarlison 90)
West Ham 2 (Hernandez 65, Kouyate 87) Tottenham 3 (Kane 34, 38, Eriksen 60)
Playing today: Brighton v Newcastle (1400 GMT)
Playing tomorrow: Arsenal v West Brom (1900 GMT)
Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero (centre) scores during the Premier League match against Crystal Palace at Etihad Stadium in Manchester, Britain, yesterday. (Reuters)