Sports

City makes it 16 in a row

December 16, 2017
Manchester City's players celebrates after beating Tottenham Hotspur in their English Premier League football match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester Saturday. — AFP
Manchester City's players celebrates after beating Tottenham Hotspur in their English Premier League football match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester Saturday. — AFP

LONDON — Manchester City racked up a 16th consecutive Premier League win as the runaway leader routed Tottenham 4-1, while Mesut Ozil's stunning strike fired Arsenal to a 1-0 success against Newcastle Saturday.

Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring at Eastlands before Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling netted after the interval to ensure City opened up a 14-point lead over second placed Manchester United, which faces West Bromwich Albion Sunday.

Having set the Premier League record for successive wins in its midweek triumph at Swansea, Pep Guardiola's side now has its manager's personal bests in its sights.

City's 16-match winning run in the league equals Guardiola's second longest streak as a boss — with Barcelona in 2010-11 — and moves it within three of his career-high 19 successive victories with Bayern Munich in 2013-14.

With the title race turning into a lengthy coronation for City, it would be easy for the leader to take its eye off the ball, but it was always in control against a Tottenham team which once again flopped in an away game against top-six opponents.

Germany midfielder Gundogan put City in front in the 14th minute with a stooping header from Leroy Sane's cross.

De Bruyne made it two with a blistering finish from Gundogan's pass in the 70th minute.

Gabriel Jesus squandered a chance to make it three when the City forward hit the post with a penalty awarded for Jan Vertonghen's foul on De Bruyne.

But Sterling scored with an 80th minute tap-in and then punished a mistake by Tottenham's Eric Dier to claim his 15th goal of the season.

Christian Eriksen's stoppage-time goal for Tottenham couldn't take the gloss off another City masterclass.

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea beat Southampton 1-0 to stay 14 points behind City and draw level on points with United.

After a tame opening from the champion, Antonio Conte's side finally opened the scoring in first-half stoppage-time.

Marcos Alonso provided the breakthrough, the Spanish wing back curling a freekick past flat-footed Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster from 35 yards.

Chelsea has won eight of its last 10 league matches, but City remain out of reach.

"When you do not score the second goal, you have to suffer. You are afraid at every corner and freekick," Conte said.

"We dominated the game, shooting 24 times, but we needed to score the second to be relaxed."

At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal won for the first time in four league games to boost its bid to qualify for the Champions League via a top-four finish.

Heavily linked with a move to United when his contract expires at the end of the season, Ozil showcased his talents for any interested clubs when he put Arsenal ahead in the 23rd minute.

After an Alexis Sanchez shot deflected into Ozil's path, the German midfielder smashed a superb volley past Newcastle goalkeeper Rob Elliot from the edge of the area for his third goal of the season.

Newcastle's eighth defeat in its last nine league games leaves Rafael Benitez's side mired in relegation trouble.

"Ozil's goal was a gem. It's good that he scores important goals," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

West Ham piled pressure on Stoke boss Mark Hughes with a 3-0 win in a match delayed by an hour after a power outage plunged parts of the bet365 Stadium into darkness before kickoff.

Mark Noble, Marko Arnautovic and Diafra Sakho scored for the visitors as West Ham climbed above Stoke into 15th place.

Brighton's Glenn Murray missed a penalty in his team's 0-0 draw against high-flying Burnley at the Amex Stadium.

Huddersfield thrashed Watford 4-1 to record their first away win since the opening day of the season.

Elias Kachunga and Aaron Mooy scored for Huddersfield before Watford's Troy Deeney was sent off, making it three red cards in their last three games.

Laurent Depoitre bagged Huddersfield's third before the visitors had Jonathan Hogg sent off.

Watford's Abdoulaye Doucoure, but Mooy's 89th-minute penalty wrapped up the points.

Christian Benteke's first goal since May inspired Crystal Palace to their maiden away win of the season as 10-man Leicester were beaten 3-0 at the King Power Stadium. — AFP


December 16, 2017
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