Manchester City emerged from a trough of despair to beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 and move to within three points of the Premier League title at Wembley on Saturday.
After City was beaten by arch-rivals Manchester United a week earlier from two goals up when victory would have crowned them king of England, then knocked out of Europe by Liverpool, some suggested that City was beginning to flag.
But Pep Guardiola’s side made a mockery of such talk to outclass a Spurs side unbeaten in the league since December, Reuters reported.
Victory, sealed with goals by Gabriel Jesus, Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling, lifted them to 87 points from 33 games.
A win against Swansea City next week will be enough to put City out of reach. “After 15 minutes I said we’d be champions, after what happened and we reacted,” said Guardiola. “These guys are fantastic and awesome. What’s happened in the last week is so unfair. The important thing is that we know we depend on ourselves. We have to win it at home. I am excited to be champions with our fans.”
“We missed the first 25 minutes,” said Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, whose side will face Manchester United in the FA Cup semifinals next week. “We have to congratulate Manchester City because the team is very close to winning the title.”
Third-placed Liverpool beat Bournemouth 3-0 at home with Mohamed Salah taking his goal tally for the season to 40 in all competitions - making him only the third Liverpool player to achieve that mark in a single campaign. Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino were also on target as Liverpool moved three points above Tottenham.
Liverpool is 10 points above fifth-placed Chelsea which hit back from two goals down at relegation-haunted Southampton to win 3-2 and keep alive their hopes of a top-four finish.
Add new comment
Read our comment policy before posting your viewpoints