Tag: Man City

Manchester City will begin their Premier League title defence away to Chelsea on the opening weekend of the new season after the fixture list was published on Tuesday.

The match on August 18 will pit Pep Guardiola against his former assistant Enzo Maresca, who was appointed Chelsea boss earlier this month after guiding Leicester to promotion last term.

FA Cup winners Manchester United will host the opening game of the campaign when Fulham visit Old Trafford on August 16.

The following day, newly promoted Ipswich, back in the Premier League for the first time in 22 years, welcome Liverpool’s new manager Arne Slot, who has replaced the long-serving Jurgen Klopp.

Leicester, back in the top flight after one season in the Championship and yet to name Maresca’s successor, will host Tottenham on August 19.

Read Also: Man City duo De Bruyne and Doku in Belgium squad

Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton reign will begin away to Everton while new West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui will welcome Aston Villa.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who finished as runners-up behind City for a second straight season, host Wolves.

EPL  opening-weekend fixtures

Friday, 16 August

Man. United v Fulham

Saturday, 17 August

Ipswich Town v Liverpool

Arsenal v Wolverhampton

Everton v Brighton

Newcastle  v Southampton

Nottingham v Bournemouth

West Ham  v Aston Villa

Sunday, 18 August

Brentford v Crystal Palace

Chelsea v Man. City

Monday, 19 August

Leicester v Tottenham

Manchester United will look to avenge their last year FA Cup final defeat to neighbour, Manchester City, when they play a rematch of the final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. The match will be broadcast live on GOtv.

Illkay Gundogan’s brace gave City 2-1 victory over the Red Devils after Bruno Fernandes levelled from the spot. United will be hoping to avoid consecutive defeats to their local rival. Tune in to GO Football (ch 61) at 3pm today to watch the match live.

The Red Devils survived a late scare in the semi-final match against Coventry City and they needed to win 4-2 on penalty shootout to secure a replay with the Citizens. After 3-0 going up courtesy of goals from Scott McTominay, Fernandes and Harry Maguire, but they conceded three goals in the final 25 minutes of the match to force the game into extra time. 

Read Also:Enugu monarch denies involvement in demolition of blind man’s building

With United missing out on European qualification due to their lowest finish in the league in eighth position, the club needs victory on Saturday to secure their place in the second tier continental competition, the Europa League. Erik Ten Hag’s side will be buoyed by the return of key players such as Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Anthony Martial, Mason Mount among others 

After the team’s victory over Brighton, Ten Hag urged his team to repay the fans’s support throughout the underwhelming season by claiming the club’s 13th FA Cup trophy. “But we have to pay them back and we have to do everything to give them a trophy next week – but also for the future, we have to perform better,” he said. 

On the other hand, City defeated Chelsea 1-0 through Bernado Silva’s late winner to return to Wembley for another final.

Pep Guardiola’s men made history as the first side to win four consecutive Premier League titles and they will be keen to create another record of being the first English side to do consecutive doubles.

Manchester City created English football history yesterday, beating West Ham 3-1 to win their fourth straight Premier League title and break Arsenal’s hearts as Jurgen Klopp made an emotional Liverpool exit.

Phil Foden scored two early goals at an expectant Etihad to lay the foundations for the victory.

West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus pulled one back with a spectacular overhead kick to give Arsenal renewed hope but Rodri struck just before the hour to effectively wrap up the title.

Arsenal started the day two points behind their rivals and praying for a miracle to deny City their coronation, knowing that a win against Everton would not be enough if the champions prevailed on home turf.

The Gunners, without a Premier League title since 2004, came from a goal down to beat Everton 2-1 but had to content themselves with second in the table for a second straight season.

City, who have now won six titles in seven years, stand alone as the only English team to have won four straight top-flight titles, eclipsing the achievements of the great Liverpool and Manchester United teams of the past.

Read Also: RELOADED: Arterta’s Arsenal tackle Pep’s Man City in epic New Year tie

 “When I moved here, if someone had said I would win six leagues in seven seasons I would say you’re insane – no way,” said City manager Pep Guardiola. “All these players for Manchester United and Liverpool and Chelsea, all these teams. Now is our period. We are part of that.”

Elsewhere on the final day of the Premier League season, Luton’s relegation was confirmed with a 4-2 loss at home to Fulham. They will join Burnley and Sheffield United in the Championship next season.

Tottenham beat Sheffield United 3-0 to seal fifth spot and a place in next season’s Europa League while Chelsea guaranteed a sixth-place finish and European football with a 2-1 win against Bournemouth.

Newcastle’s 4-2 win at Brentford condemned Manchester United to an eighth-place finish – their lowest since 1990.

Erik ten Hag’s men, who beat Brighton 2-0 in Roberto De Zerbi’s last game in charge of the south coast club, have a chance to salvage something from a disastrous season in next week’s FA Cup final against City but if they lose that they will miss out on European football.

Foden, 23, has enjoyed his most impressive season yet for City, taking his tally to 27 goals in all competitions, together with 11 assists.

The England man opened the scoring on Sunday after just 79 seconds with a vicious left-footed shot from outside the penalty area, settling nerves among the home fans. He then stroked the ball into the net in the 18th minute after an assist from Jeremy Doku.

City appeared to have one hand on the trophy and news then filtered through that Everton had taken the lead at Arsenal, leaving Mikel Arteta’s men needing an unlikely sequence of events to come out on top.

But the title race came alive again within the space of a few minutes when Takehiro Tomiyasu side-footed home to level at the Emirates before Kudus pulled one back for West Ham.

The atmosphere became more subdued at the Etihad but the visitors rarely threatened again in David Moyes’ final game in charge and Rodri’s goal in the 59th minute ultimately made the game safe.

Kai Havertz scored a late winner for Arsenal to take them to 89 points, two behind City after 38 games.

Arteta gave a rousing speech to the fans in the immediate aftermath of the match, urging them to crave more.

 “All this is happening because you started believing, you started to be patient and started to understand what we tried to do,” he said.

 “All the credit has to go to the players and the staff. Don’t be satisfied. We want much more than that and we’re going to get it.”

Klopp ended his Liverpool reign with a 2-0 win against Wolves but the match was merely a sideshow as the fans paid a warm tribute to a manager who has transformed the club since arriving in 2015.

“It doesn’t feel like an end,” the German told the crowd. “It just feels like a start. Today I saw a football team play full of talent, youth, creativity, desire, greed. That’s one part of development, that’s what you need, obviously.”

He added: “We have this wonderful stadium, training centre and you – the superpower of world football. Wow.”

LEAGUE WINNERS IN NUMBERS 

20 -Manchester United

19 – Liverpool

13 – Arsenal

10 – Manchester City

9 – Everton

7 – Aston Villa

6 – Chelsea, Sunderland

4 – Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle United

3 – Huddersfield Town, Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers

2 – Portsmouth, Preston North End, Burnley, Tottenham

Hotspur, Derby County

1 – Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich Town, Leicester City

Manchester City are on the verge of a fourth successive Premier League title after Tottenham failed to do arch-rivals Arsenal a favour, losing 2-0 to Pep Guardiola’s side in a game which ended their own Champions League hopes.

City knew beating Spurs and West Ham on the final day would see them crowned Premier League champions yet again and they have done half the job after winning at a subdued Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The reigning champions were uncharacteristically poor in the opening 45 minutes but took the lead through Erling Haaland’s tap-in six minutes after the restart.

Tottenham, hoping to keep their Champions League chances alive and battling with the prospect of handing Arsenal the title, came close to an equaliser on numerous occasions – Son Heung-min missing a huge chance when going through one-on-one.

But Man City put a crucial win to bed in injury-time as Haaland emphatically converted a penalty won by Jeremy Doku, the Norwegian up to 26 goals as he closes in on back-to-back Golden Boot awards.

The win means Man City will sit top of the Premier League – two points above title rivals Arsenal – on the final day of the season and will defend the title if they beat West Ham at the Etihad Stadium.

A draw will only be enough if Arsenal, who have mounted another impressive title challenge under Mikel Arteta, fail to beat Everton at home as the Gunners have a superior goal difference.

For Tottenham, a spirited but awkward defeat to Manchester City means they cannot catch Aston Villa, who have qualified for the Champions League for the first time under Unai Emery.

Spurs will finish fifth ahead of in-form Newcastle United and Chelsea if they avoid defeat at bottom-placed Sheffield United on the final day.

City travelled to north London for their game in hand against Spurs sitting second in the Premier League, one point behind title rivals Arsenal.

Pep Guardiola made just one change from the side that thumped Fulham last time out, while Ange Postecoglou made three changes from the Burnley win, bringing in Radu Dragusin, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for Oliver Skipp, Dejan Kulsevski and Yves Bissouma.

Postecoglou insisted his Spurs team would do everything in their power to beat Tottenham despite the ramifications in the title race and his side started well, Bentancur forcing Ederson to make an early save with the first shot on target.

City were struggling to get going in a subdued and flat Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but were almost gifted an opener when Hojbjerg’s terrible attempted clearance fell to Phil Foden, but the England star was denied by Guglielmo Vicario’s strong right arm.

Despite former Tottenham full-back Kyle Walker regularly finding space down the right flank, Foden’s effort was Man City’s only chance of note in the opening half an hour, with the reigning champions struggling for fluency in the final third.

Read Also: Enoh, Gusau  galvanize total support for Finidi

Josko Gvardiol, who has scored five goals in his last seven games, shinned a Walker cross over the bar and shots from Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva were both blocked before the offside flag was raised as the score remained goalless at half-time.

After an uncharacteristically poor and unthreatening opening 45 minutes, it was no surprise to see Man City improve after the break and they almost broke the deadlock immediately through Kevin de Bruyne, who swivelled from the edge of the box before seeing a strong effort denied by the diving Vicario.

Spurs also came close to an early second-half goal, Son’s attempt at a delicate chip from Brennan Johnson’s cross blocked by Ederson from close range, but soon enough Manchester City were in front courtesy of Golden Boot leader Haaland.

Foden had the Spurs players rushing back with a run down the left flank and his cross eventually found its way to Silva and then De Bruyne who put it on a plate for Haaland with a simple ball across goal.

City’s biggest problem in the next 15 minutes came through injury scares to Ederson and De Bruyne, the former causing real concern to the medical staff following a nasty collision with Cristian Romero and then replaced by Stefan Ortega.

Kulusevski’s close-range strike, while De Bruyne’s replacement Jeremy Doku threatened on the counter.

Kulusevski had another shot saved by Ortega before Son fluffed his lines with the defining moment in the match and perhaps this season’s title race, the Tottenham captain bearing down on goal only to be denied by Ortega, who spread himself to spare Manuel Akanji’s blushes.

With their next attack Man City won a penalty as Doku was felled by Pedro Porro and Haaland made no mistake from the spot to send Guardiola’s side top of the Premier League ahead of the final day.

Pep Guardiola said “history is in front of us” as he prepares his Manchester City team for a potentially tricky match at Tottenham that could ultimately decide the destination of the Premier League title.

City, chasing an unprecedented fourth straight top-flight English league crown, are one point behind leaders Arsenal but crucially have a game in hand.

If City beat Spurs they will be able to seal the championship with a win at home to West Ham on the final day of the season on Sunday, when Arsenal host Everton.

Guardiola’s men are charging towards the finishing line, hitting 28 goals in their past seven Premier League matches and conceding just five times.

But the City boss, who said he was relishing the high-pressure title run-in, denied that the race was already effectively over.

Read Also: Man City edge closer to title with Fulham win

 “Fifteen goals (in four matches) is fine, it gave us the points to be here but it doesn’t give you an extra thing for tomorrow when you start the game,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference. “The mindset is easy, in terms of if we don’t win we are not going to win the Premier League and this is what we have to do.”

City have never won a league match at Tottenham’s new stadium, which opened in 2019, and have not even scored a goal, though they won there in the FA Cup in January.

Guardiola said despite his team’s poor record at the ground, they had played well there “many times”.’

 “But to do something in this country that has never been done before you have to do something special, exceptional I would say,” he said.

“It’s not ever happened in the Premier League. We have to do it this time. History is in front of us and we have to accept we have not done it. It’s the time to do it, otherwise Arsenal will be champions.”

Guardiola said he had “huge respect” for Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou, whose team still have an outside chance of securing a Champions League place for next season, though a win for Aston Villa against Liverpool later on Monday would end those hopes.

 “The difficulties are there but at the same time we know what we are playing for – to give us the chance for the last game at home depending on us,” he said.

 “This is the mindset that we have.”

Josko Gvardiol scored twice as Manchester City put the pressure on Arsenal in the title race by beating Fulham to move two points clear at the top of the Premier League.

In a game they dominated from start to finish, the visitors opened the scoring early on when defender Gvardiol produced a clinical finish after a good move opened up the Fulham defence.

Phil Foden then continued his excellent form this season with a second after the break, sending a first-time finish past Bernd Leno.

Read Also:Four-goal Haaland keeps Man City on track

Manchester City did not have to wait long for another goal as Gvardiol stabbed in at the far post to put the result beyond Fulham.

Issa Diop was shown a second yellow card in stoppage time as he brought down Julain Alvarez inside the box, and the Manchester City substitute then duly converted the penalty.

The result means the Gunners head to Manchester United on Sunday needing to win to be certain of taking the title race to the final day of the season.

Erling Haaland’s first four-goal haul in the Premier League left Manchester City three wins away from an historic fourth successive English league title.

With no margin for error following Arsenal’s earlier victory over Bournemouth, City delivered the perfect response.

City were given a helping hand they did not need thanks to a favourable 12th-minute penalty decision from referee Craig Pawson.

Read Also: Rangnick snubs Bayern to stay as Austria coach

Haaland sent Wolves keeper Jose Sa the wrong way, then beat the Portuguese from the spot again just before the break after he had been brought down by Nelson Semedo.

In between, the striker had scored with a superb far-post header, climbing to an amazing height unchallenged at the far post, to send Rodri’s cross back across goal and into the corner.

A minute after Hwang Hee-chan had pulled one back for the visitors, Haaland struck again, powering onto Phil Foden’s brilliant lofted pass.

It took the Norwegian onto 25 Premier League goals for the season and five clear of Alexander Isak and Cole Palmer in the Golden Boot standings.