London (AFP) – Manchester City cruised to the top of the Premier League with a 4-0 win over Brighton on Saturday as Manchester United and Chelsea lost further ground in disappointing draws with Southampton and Sheffield United.
Leicester moved up to third as the Foxes unbeaten start to the season continued in a 3-1 win over Bournemouth thanks to two goals from Jamie Vardy, while victories for Crystal Palace and West Ham take them into a share of fourth.
City win comes at a cost
Liverpool can move back above City should they continue the only 100 percent start left in the Premier League later at Burnley, but City were never in danger of dropping points at the Etihad as Kevin de Bruyne tapped home David Silva’s cut-back after just two minutes.
Victory came at a cost for Pep Guardiola’s men as Aymeric Laporte was stretchered off with a knee injury that looks certain to rule him out of winning a first cap for France in upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers.
City may come to regret not buying a replacement for departed captain Vincent Kompany at centre-back as holding midfielder Fernandinho had to deputise at the heart of the defence for the final 52 minutes.
However, Aguero soon made the game safe by blasting high into the net just before the break and produced another sublime finish to curl into the top corner for his second 10 minutes into the second-half.
Substitute Bernardo Silva then rounded off the scoring for the champions.
United slump continues
How United must wish they had some of their local rivals firepower as Southampton clung on for a 1-1 draw at St. Mary’s despite playing the last 17 minutes plus stoppage time a man down after Kevin Danso’s red card.
Daniel James had given the visitors the perfect start with his third goal in four appearances for United, but Jannik Vestergaard headed home an equaliser just before the hour mark.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have now failed to win in their last three games and won just one of their last 10 dating back to last season.
“We’ve been dominating, creating chances and just haven’t been clinical in front of goal to win the games,” said Solskjaer.
“It’s not a dip in form, (but) it’s a dip in results definitely.”
Blades blunt Chelsea
After scoring his first Chelsea goals away to Norwich last weekend, Tammy Abraham thought he had given the Blues all three points at home to newly-promoted Sheffield United by scoring twice more before the break.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2UhrHpG
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