Manchester United scored two late goals on Sunday to deepen the pain for beleaguered Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola as Chelsea moved just two points behind English Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Elsewhere on a day of high drama in the English top flight, Wolves manager Gary O’Neil and Southampton boss Russell Martin were sacked, paying the price for their teams’ struggles.
In the marquee game of the day at the Etihad, City defender Josko Gvardiol opened the scoring, but Bruno Fernandes leveled from the penalty spot in the 88th minute and Amad Diallo struck two minutes later to seal a 2-1 win.
Photo: Reuters
Defending champions City — who have dominated English soccer over the past decade — now have just one win in 11 games in all competitions, and Guardiola is desperately searching for answers.
“I don’t have a defense, I’m the boss, I’m the manager. I have to find a solution and I don’t find a solution,” Guardiola said.
“This is a big club, when you lose eight out of 11, something wrong is happening. What can I say? The schedule is tough, the injured players? No,” he said. “I’m the boss, I’m the manager and I’m not good enough. It’s as simple as that.”
Photo: Reuters
Guardiola’s men trail leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand, by nine points and sit outside the UEFA Champions League places, in fifth spot.
The win is a huge relief for new United boss Ruben Amorim, who had won just one of his first four Premier League matches.
“I think for the fans it has a deep meaning, especially in this context, in this moment,” the former Sporting Lisbon boss said after his first experience of a Manchester derby.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We had a difficult moment one week ago against Nottingham [Forest] at home with a storm. It was a really tough moment after the game,” he said. “Today, we are more happy, but it’s three points that we have to continue.”
United finished the day 13th in the Premier League table, after Tottenham hammered bottom club Southampton 5-0.
Enzo Maresca’s high-flying Chelsea beat Brentford 2-1 at Stamford Bridge to close to within two points of long-time leaders Liverpool, who have 36 points.
The home team dominated the first half and got the reward they deserved shortly before the break when Marc Cucurella nodded home Noni Madueke’s cross.
Nicolas Jackson doubled Chelsea’s lead in the 80th minute and they held out for the win despite a late strike from prolific Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo.
It is a fifth straight win for Chelsea, who look increasingly like being Liverpool’s main challengers this season, with Arsenal and City faltering.
But Maresca is still being coy over his side’s title chances.
“It’s not about how many games we win,” he said. “It’s about being realistic. There are things we have to do better. That’s why I said for me we are not ready.”
LA LIGA
AFP, BARCELONA
Spanish La Liga leaders Barcelona stumbled 1-0 at home against Leganes on Sunday as they suffered another blow in the title race.
Atletico Madrid pulled level on points with the Catalans with a 1-0 victory against Getafe earlier on, their 11th straight win across all competitions.
Leganes defender Sergio Gonzalez headed home from a corner kick after four minutes for the visiting minnows and Barcelona missed a host of presentable chances as they failed to mount a comeback.
After a superb start to the season, Barcelona have lost three of their last six league games and won just one of those, seeing their lead whittled away.
Hansi Flick’s side lead third-place Real Madrid by a single point, after the champions drew at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, having played one extra game than both their closest title rivals.
“It was a messed-up game, it’s impossible to be happy. I think we started the game half asleep,” Pedri told DAZN. “We woke up, we created chances, but we didn’t have the spark we needed to get the goal...”
“We have to be better in front of goal if we want to win points, we’re in a bad run in the league and we have to turn it around,” he said.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
RSS