After a thrilling 2-2 draw against championship rivals Liverpool on Sunday, Manchester City kept their one-point advantage at the top of the Premier League.
Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus both scored to give Pep Guardiola’s team a 2-0 lead in the Etihad Stadium duel.
Both times, Liverpool equalized through Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane, but it was City who emerged victorious from a high-quality game between perhaps the world’s two best sides.
With with seven games remaining, City remain in prime position to pounce on second-placed Liverpool and win the title.
City are aiming for a treble of the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup this season, and this would be their fourth English trophy in five seasons.
Liverpool’s chances of winning a second Premier League title in three years have been severely harmed by their failure to return home with three points from Manchester.
If Jurgen Klopp’s club wants to achieve an unprecedented quadruple, they will need a slip from City in the last weeks.
City and Liverpool have been separated by only a single point since the start of the 2018-19 season, and the newest installment of their title battle is ready to go down to the wire once more.
On January 15, the title race appeared to be over, with City leading Liverpool by 14 points and two games in hand.
City’s lead had been eaten away by Liverpool’s 10-match winning streak in the league, but the leaders’ ability to halt it now puts the trophy in their hands.
De Bruyne slipped past Fabinho on the edge of the box and unleashed a shot that took a vicious deflection off Joel Matip before sneaking in off the far post in the fifth minute.
City’s delight after De Bruyne’s sixth goal in as many games was short-lived, as Liverpool equalized eight minutes later.
Trent Alexander-Arnold flicked the ball towards Jota after Andrew Robertson’s cross reached him at the far post, and his low strike from 10 yards overcame Ederson’s shaky save.
- Dramatic title –
City took the lead again in the 37th minute, as Jesus repaid Guardiola’s faith in him by replacing Riyad Mahrez.
Cancelo’s brilliant ball found Jesus running behind Alexander-Arnold, who was slow to react, and the Brazilian forward guided a wonderful finish in off the underside of the bar.
For the first time in a year, Liverpool came back from a half-time deficit in a Premier League game 47 seconds after the break.
Mane’s run was discovered by Mohamed Salah’s superb defence-splitting pass, and the Senegalese forward struck a calm effort into the top corner to mark his 30th birthday in style.
When Raheem Sterling converted De Bruyne’s ball, City felt they had taken the lead, but VAR disallowed the goal due to a narrow offside.
With a free-kick that slammed off the post in the final minute, Mahrez almost won it for City.
SOURCE: AFP
