With a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday, Manchester City overcame the uncertainty brought on by several Premier League charges to get within three points of Arsenal at the top of the standings.
The English champions are under scrutiny after the Premier League filed more than 100 complaints against the team for allegedly breaking financial regulations as long back as 2009.
If guilty, City might lose a lot of ground in the standings or perhaps be demoted.
Pep Guardiola, the manager of City, came out swinging in defense of the club’s hierarchy, blaming the claims on envious Premier League competitors, and his players did the same by putting on a defiant display on the field.
Pep Guardiola, the manager of City, came out swinging in defense of the club’s hierarchy, blaming the claims on envious Premier League competitors, and his players did the same by putting on a defiant display on the field.
At the Etihad, Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan, and Rodri all scored goals before halftime to put Arsenal in jeopardy of losing Wednesday’s matchup.
Arsenal still has a game left to play, but City will now take over first place if they triumph at the Emirates in midweek.
The Gunners’ 1-1 draw at home to Brentford on Saturday opened the door for City and unlike last weekend, when the defending champions missed the chance to pounce with defeat away to Tottenham, this time they made no mistake.
Guardiola also learned his lesson from an experimental line-up at Spurs.
Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne and Gundogan were restored to the starting line-up and City looked much more like their old selves.
The City support made their feelings known before kick-off as the Premier League anthem was booed and a banner raised saluting the lawyer the club have hired to defend the charges.
They had cause to celebrate after just four minutes when Rodri headed in a corner from Mahrez by rising to the highest point.
In the mood to cause some damage against his previous team, Jack Grealish was only stopped from scoring by a spectacular finger-tip save from Emiliano Martinez.
Erling Haaland’s injury is a concern. In City’s hapless surrender to Spurs last weekend, much was made of their hesitation to hit the Norwegian early on. However, the Norwegian was a much more persistent threat lurking behind the Villa defense.
Haaland created the second as his pace beat Martinez to De Bruyne’s ball over the top and he picked out Gundogan at the far post for a simple finish.
Grealish then lured Jacob Ramsey into a clumsy challenge to win a penalty, which Mahrez slotted home as Haaland surprisingly stepped aside.
That decision was perhaps explained by Haaland’s withdrawal at half-time as he appeared to be nursing a thigh issue, which will be a concern for Guardiola.
So too will be his side’s defensive record as another clean sheet was spoiled when Douglas Luiz robbed Bernardo Silva and freed Ollie Watkins to fire into the far corner on the hour mark.
Villa substitute Jhon Duran then smashed against the bar in stoppage time, but a second-half rally was too little, too late for Unai Emery’s men.
Sources: Infotrend.com.ng
