Manchester City racked up a 17th consecutive Premier League victory after Sergio Aguero’s 100th and 101st Etihad Stadium goals inspired a 4-0 win over Bournemouth yesterday. Aguero scored twice and set up Raheem Sterling as Pep Guardiola’s side made it 18 wins and one draw in the first half of the season and provisionally opened up a 14-point lead at the top of the table.
Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw at improving Everton, while bottom club Swansea City started life without sacked manager Paul Clement by drawing 1-1 at home to Crystal Palace. Hailing Aguero, Guardiola said: “He is a special player, a legend and I am so happy when he plays good and he is scoring goals.”
The City manager added: “The space was almost impossible to find and we were lucky to score the first goal. The last 20 minutes they push up and after then we played a real good game. We were ready mentally. Again.”
City are now two wins off the record for consecutive wins in Europe’s top five leagues, which was set by Guardiola’s Bayern Munich in 2013-14. They have already become the first team to score 100 goals in the English top flight in a calendar year since Liverpool in 1982.
Guardiola welcomed back Vincent Kompany from injury and David Silva, who had missed their two previous games due to personal reasons, and saw his side take a 27th-minute lead. Aguero met Fernandinho’s cross with a diving header to bring up a century of goals in front of City’s fans since his 2011 move from Atletico Madrid.
The Argentina striker’s dinked pass set up Sterling to smash home City’s second goal — and his 16th of the season — in the 53rd minute before Aguero headed in his second. City substitute Danilo completed the scoring late on, rubber-stamping a victory that sent Bournemouth into the relegation zone.
Everton continued their improvement under new manager Sam Allardyce by extending their unbeaten run to six league games with a dogged 0-0 draw at home to champions Chelsea. The visitors dominated, but the closest they came to scoring was when Everton centre-back Ashley Williams headed Victor Moses’s cross against his own crossbar in the 76th minute.
“I think we dominated the game and had lots of chances to score,” Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte said. “I think this result is unfair. Everton deserve credit, but we deserved to win.”
Chelsea, who were without the suspended Alvaro Morata, will fall five points below second-place Manchester United if Jose Mourinho’s side prevail at Leicester City in last night’s late game.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane also continues to rewrite records, with his seventh hat-trick of the year in all competitions firing his side to a 3-0 win at Burnley that put the Londoners back above their hosts, and Arsenal, into fifth. Kane struck a first-half penalty and produced two clinical finishes after the break to equal Alan Shearer’s record of 36 Premier League goals in a calendar year set in 1995. Arsenal and fourth-placed Liverpool drew 3-3 on Friday night.
Swansea remain four points adrift of safety at the foot of the table after drawing against Palace, with player-coach Leon Britton taking charge of the team following Clement’s dismissal. Palace, now unbeaten in eight league games, took the lead through Luka Milivojevic’s penalty just before the hour, but Jordan Ayew levelled for Swansea with a drilled effort 13 minutes from time.
Joe Allen starred as Stoke City registered a timely 3-1 win over second-bottom West Bromwich Albion to ease some of the pressure on manager Mark Hughes. Wales midfielder Allen scored and set up a goal for Eric Choupo-Moting, with Ramadan Sobhi adding a late third after Salomon Rondon had replied for West Brom, who have gone 18 games without victory in all competitions.
Newcastle United climbed out of the relegation zone after ending a run of nine league games without victory by edging West Ham United 3-2 in an entertaining encounter at London Stadium. After Marko Arnautovic gave West Ham an early lead, Newcastle hit back through Henri Saivet, Mohamed Diame and Christian Atsu.
West Ham forward Andre Ayew atoned for squandering a penalty at 2-1 by scoring to make it 3-2 in the 69th minute, but his side tasted defeat for the first time in four league outings. Pascal Gross’s fourth goal of the season earned Brighton and Hove Albion a 1-0 win at home to Watford, while Laurent Depoitre cancelled out Charlie Austin’s opener as Huddersfield Town drew 1-1 at Southampton.
English Premier League results
Brighton 1 (Gross 64) Watford 0 Burnley 0 Tottenham 3 (Kane 7-pen, 69, 79)
Everton 0 Chelsea 0
Manchester City 4 (Aguero 27, 79, Sterling 53, Danilo 85) Bournemouth 0
Southampton 1 (Austin 24) Huddersfield 1 (Depoitre 64)
Stoke 3 (Allen 19, Choupo-Moting 45, Sobhi 90+5) West Brom 1 (Rondon 51)
Swansea 1 (J. Ayew 77) Crystal Palace 1 (Milivojevic 59-pen)
West Ham 2 (Arnautovic 6, A. Ayew 69) Newcastle 3 (Saivet 10, Diame 53, Atsu 61)
Played Friday
Arsenal 3 (Sanchez 53, Xhaka 56, Ozil 58) Liverpool 3 (Coutinho 26, Salah 52, Firmino 71)
Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero (right) scores against Bournemouth during the Premier League match in Manchester, north west England, yesterday. (AFP)
