Sports

Manchester City extend lead; Liverpool edge closer to top 4

Sports Desk, May 6 (EFE).- Manchester City got past Leeds United 2-1 Saturday to go 4 points clear of Arsenal atop the Premier League, while Liverpool nipped Brentford 1-0 and are just a point out of the top four with three games left.

With a brace from Ilkay Gündogan, City improved to 82 points at the expense of 17th-place Leeds, who managed to create some anxious moments for the defending champions in their first outing under new manager Sam Allardyce.

Hosting the Whites at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, City had 82 percent possession and outshot the visitors 18-4.

Pep Guardiola’s men should have won in a rout, but Erling Haaland saw two efforts bounce off the woodwork and had another shot stopped by goalkeeper Joel Robles, who also denied Riyad Mahrez and saved a penalty by Gündogan.

The City captain put his side up in the 19th minute with assist from Mahrez and made it 2-0 in the 27th, again with help from the Algerian.

The margin was still two goals when Phil Foden drew a foul from Pascal Struijk in the box in the 83rd minute and the referee pointed to the spot.

Haaland, who last week set a new league record with his 35th goal of the season, is City’s usual penalty taker, but he decided to give Gündogan the chance to complete the hat trick.

Seeing Robles save the penalty energized the Whites and Rodrigo Moreno narrowed the deficit to one with a goal in the 85th minute, but City hung on for their 10th straight victory.

At Anfield, hosts Liverpool went ahead in the 13th minute on Mohamed Salah’s 30th goal of the season in all competitions. The Egyptian striker has hit that mark four times since joining the Reds in 2017.

Bryan Mbeumo appeared to bring the Bees level in the 40th minute, but the goal was disallowed for offside and a VAR check confirmed the decision.

While Brentford keeper David Raya did well to turn away a strike by Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 78th minute, the visitors could not come up with an equalizer.

After six consecutive league wins Liverpool are on 62 points, 1 behind fourth-place Manchester United, who have two games in hand.

Brentford remain ninth in the table with 50 points.

In other notable matches, Tottenham Hotspur beat Crystal Palace 1-0 on Harry Kane’s goal in first-half stoppage time to go above Brighton & Hove Albion in sixth place, trailing Liverpool by 5 points.

Palace’s best chance came five minutes into the second half with Spurs keeper Fraser Forster practically beaten, but Wilfried Zaha’s shot went wide of the post. At the other end, Sam Johnstone thwarted Son Heung-min in the 76th minute to keep the game within reach.

Crystal Palace are 12th in the table with 40 points.

EFE

/dr

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