Aguero treble gets City back on track as United eye Sanchez

Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick as Manchester City restored their12-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 win at home toNewcastle United yesterday. City’s 30-match unbeaten run in the leaguecame to a dramatic end with a 4-3 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield lastweek and their advantage at the top of the table was cut to singlefigures, for a few hours at least, when second-placed Manchester Unitedbeat Burnley 1-0 earlier on Saturday.But normal service for Pep Guardiola’s men resumed in yesterday’s latekick-off, with Aguero glancing in Kevin De Bruyne’s cross in the 34thminute to open the scoring at the Etihad. The Argentina striker thenconverted a 63rd-minute penalty awarded after Raheem Sterling tumbled inthe box following a tug by Javier Manquillo.But struggling Newcastle scored against the run of play four minuteslater when a mistake by Oleksandr Zinchenko allowed Jacob Murphy tosprint through and finish in composed fashion. Aguero, however, put theresult beyond doubt when City’s all-time leading goalscorer completedhis 11th hat-trick for the club seven minutes from time following asuperb run and pass from Leroy Sane.Meanwhile Arsenal showed there was plenty of life after Alexis Sanchezas they beat Crystal Palace 4-1 without the United-bound Chileanforward. With Sanchez moving slowly but surely towards a £35mn (39.6mneuros, $48.5mn) transfer to United rather than City, Gunners managerArsene Wenger left him out of his matchday squad.Any fears Arsenal might falter up front without him proved groundless asthey surged into a 4-0 lead inside 22 minutes at the Emirates Stadiumthanks to goals from Nacho Monreal, Alex Iwobi, Laurent Koscielny, AlexIwobi and Alexandre Lacazette before Luka Milivojevic pulled one backfor Palace 12 minutes from time. Arsenal remain outside the top four butheartened manager Wenger said: “We played our real game in the firsthalf, real pace and real combination.”At Turf Moor, it took until the 54th minute for United striker AnthonyMartial to break the deadlock with his third league goal in as manymatches. Jose Mourinho left midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the proposedmakeweight in the Sanchez deal, out of his matchday squad and afterwardsthe United manager indicated the transfer saga was nearing an end.“Expect soon or never,” said Mourinho regarding his prospects of signingSanchez. “So close, so close, so close...I know my people are doingabsolutely everything they can.” But Wenger warned: “Sanchez will onlyhappen if Mkhitaryan comes here, that will be decided in the next 48hours.”Chelsea won 4-0 away to Brighton as the reigning English championsleapfrogged Liverpool into third place, 48 hours before the Reds playSwansea City. The Blues’ first win of 2018 saw Eden Hazard score twice,his opener and a goal from Willian making it 2-0 inside six minutesbefore Hazard and Victor Moses sealed victory after the break.On a day when all Premier League fixtures were preceded by a minute’sapplause in memory of the former West Bromwich Albion and Englandforward Cyrille Regis, a trailblazer for black players who died aged 59last week, the Baggies drew 1-1 with Everton.Jay Rodriguez gave West Brom an early lead before Theo Walcott, on hisEverton debut following a midweek move from Arsenal, laid on anequaliser for Oumar Niasse in the 70th minute. But the sight of Toffeesmidfielder James McCarthy going off with a broken leg after blocking aSalomon Rondon shot cast a shadow over Everton boss Sam Allardyce’s1,000th game as a manager.New Stoke City manager Paul Lambert won his first game in charge of thePotters as they beat Huddersfield Town 2-0 with second-half goals fromJoe Allen and Mame Biram Diouf to climb out of the relegation zone.Leicester City beat Watford 2-0 while West Ham and Bournemouth shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.Tottenham Hotspur continue their quest for a Champions League placetoday when manager Mauricio Pochettino returns to former clubSouthampton.English Premier League resultsArsenal 4 (Monreal 6, Iwobi 10, Koscielny 13, Lacazette 22) Crystal Palace 1 (Milivojevic 78); Brighton 0 Chelsea 4 (Hazard 3, 77, Willian 6, Moses 89); Burnley 0 Manchester United 1 (Martial 54); Everton 1 (Niasse 70) West Bromwich Albion 1 (Rodriguez 7); Leicester 2 (Vardy 39-pen, Mahrez 90+1) Watford 0; Manchester City 3 (Aguero 34, 63, 83) Newcastle United 1 (Murphy 67);Stoke City 2 (Allen 53, Diouf 69) Huddersfield Town 0; West Ham 1(Hernandez 73) Bournemouth 1 (Fraser 71)Playing today (1600 GMT): Southampton v Tottenham. Tomorrow (2000 GMT): Swansea v Liverpool