Manchester City” is favored. Of course, it’s always been that way – their Premier League championship defense has been in their hands the entire way, but there have been occasions in the last few days when you wouldn’t have known it.
video goals of Manchester City Newcastle United
And if Pep Guardiola’s team needed a reminder that their fate is in their own hands, this 5-0
victory over Newcastle United provided it.
The fear in the immediate wake of Real Madrid‘s spectacular Champions League semi-final
elimination was that it would derail the rest of the season, potentially leaving them
trophyless. Instead, Manchester City” finished the most difficult week of their season with a higher league place.
The champs now have a three-point lead, not to mention the goal differential.
Two Raheem Sterling goals were sandwiched between scores from Aymeric Laporte, Rodri,
and Phil Foden in a five-star display that saw City edge Liverpool on goal difference and
goals scored. Guardiola could hardly have wished for a better reaction to the Bernabeu’s
events. The only genuine cause for concern was Ruben Dias’ half-time substitute, who could
be the latest member of his defense to go down with an injury.
There’s a good potential that, in the not-too-distant future, this match will be a title decider
in its own right, featuring the country’s two strongest and best-resourced teams.
However, one of these plans for world dominance is well ahead of the other at the time.
Newcastle’s – and Liverpool’s – chances of getting a result would hinge on them taking
advantage of the few opportunities that came their way.
If Chris Wood had converted a free header from close range after eight minutes, the
afternoon may have taken a completely different turn. Allan Saint-cross Maximin’s for
Joelinton, who City had also left unmarked at the far post, may have been missed by the £25
million January signing, which was one of Saudi Arabia’s early demonstrations of intent.
Wood nodded the ball tamely and straight at Ederson, a defensive blunder that warranted
punishment.
After a quarter-hour, the space had appeared down Joao Cancelo’s side, and the right-wayward back’s start did not improve as he blazed over the bar from close range. Cancelo, on the other hand, would show far more poise in setting up City’s breakthrough, nodding Ilkay Gundogan’s magnificent, lofted pass back across the face of goal for Sterling to connect with, finish, and relieve the tension that had built up around the Etihad.
Manchester City” vs New Castle
City were far from out of the woods, but Wood’s goal-scoring luck would not change. When the New Zealand international bundled in a corner six minutes later, pouncing after a deflection from Bruno Guimaraes, Newcastle thought they had leveled, but the flag went up. When Jamaal Lascelles’ header touched Guimaraes, he was offside. It was fortunate that City did not concede twice.
Even if they had, the winners appeared to be on the verge of making apologies at the opposite end of the field. The second came just before halftime, when Gundogan volleyed Kevin De Bruyne’s half-cleared corner back into the mix. Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka mishandled the ball, and despite reacting brilliantly to prevent Dias from tapping in, he was unable to prevent Laporte from forcefully following up on the rebound.
It was City’s 20th set-piece goal of the season – no other top-flight team has scored more – and a vital one at that. City would now be three points ahead of Liverpool on goal differential, in addition to being three points clear at the top. The necessity for a tiebreaker may appear absurd following the weekend’s results, but this race and rivalry have frequently been defined by razor-thin margins. Those are now in favor of City.
City tied Liverpool on goals scored with the third, which came from another De Bruyne corner. Rodri, after eluding Emil Krafth and Joelinton, flicked in the 87th goal in their title defense on the hour mark. That seemed to be the end of the scoring until Foden diverted Oleksandr Zinchenko’s errant attempt in and Jack Grealish’s third league assist of the season set up Sterling in stoppage time.
