Manchester City mauls Liverpool, Jose got humbled [Video]

Premier League champions, Liverpool, were made to look ordinary as goals from Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain own goal gave City an astounding win.

City showed respect to the title winners with a guard of honour before kick-off, but it wasn’t the case on the pitch a few minutes later as it was strictly back to business for the hosts.

Pep Guardiola’s men took complete control and asserted total dominance with a devastating first-half display in which they scored three goals within 20 minutes.

 

A Kevin De Bruyne’s penalty put the hosts, Manchester City, ahead after Joe Gomez had pulled down Raheem Sterling in the penalty area. Sterling then turned scorer, slot into the corner from 10 yards after Phil Foden’s pass. Foden got in on the act, rounding off a fine move following a one-two with De Bruyne.

Sterling would have finished the game with a hattrick of goals but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain deflected his effort into the back of the net for an own goal.

In truth, it could have been an even bigger margin as City, looking to defend their record points haul of 100 from 2017/18, kept Liverpool firmly on 86, with just six games and 18 points left up for grabs. The result leaves the gap between the sides at 20 points.

Stats and facts from the match

• Liverpool’s two heaviest Premier League defeats under Jurgen Klopp have both been at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City (4-0 tonight, 5-0 in September 2017).
• Manchester City has now won its last four home Premier League matches by an aggregate score of 14-0.
• Liverpool have failed to score in five consecutive away games in all competitions for the first time since April 1992, when they went eight on the road without a goal.
• This was the joint-heaviest defeat by a side already crowned Premier League champions in a season, with Arsenal losing 4-0 away at Liverpool in 1997-98, which was also the game after they won the title.
• Jurgen Klopp found himself three goals behind at half-time in a league match for the first time since May 2007 when he was 1. FSV Mainz 05 manager against Bayern Munich (also 3-0 down at half-time).
• Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling scored his first Premier League goal against former side Liverpool in his ninth appearance against the Reds in the competition.
• Kevin de Bruyne has been directly involved in more Premier League goals than any other player this season (28), with the midfielder scoring 11 goals and assisting 17 in 30 appearances.
• Since the start of the 2015-16 season, only Wilfried Zaha (15) has won more Premier League penalties than Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling (14).
• Only rivals Manchester United (11) have taken more Premier League penalties than Manchester City (10) this season, and only United have scored more (seven) than City (six).
• Manchester City’s Phil Foden has been directly involved in 14 goals in his past 17 appearances in all competitions (six goals, eight assists), despite only starting 10 of those 17 games.

Sheffield United humbles Jose Mourinho’s men

Sheffield United finally picked up their first win since the Premier League restarted in a difficult encounter with Tottenham Hotspur, as they produced a hugely impressive display to keep alive their hopes of playing European football next season.

Sander Berge, Lys Mousset and Oli McBurnie scored for Sheffield United as they edged out their opponent 3-1.

Spurs were left fuming after a VAR call denied Harry Kane an equaliser. The Video Assistant Referee ruled out Kane’s equaliser because of a handball by Lucas Moura in the build-up.

 

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Sheffield United was infamously denied a goal at Tottenham in November when John Lundstram’s toe was judged offside but it would seem roles were reversed on Thursday when, trailing to Berge’s opener, Kane’s strike was disallowed by VAR for a Lucas Moura handball in the build-up.

Spurs were unable to mount a response after that as they struggled to break through a strong Sheffield United defence.

The victory for Sheffield United moves them above their opponents into seventh in the Premier League, five points behind Manchester United and Wolves, who are fifth and sixth respectively.

Tottenham, who have not finished outside the top six since 2009, is ninth, seven points adrift of Wolves.

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Stats and facts from the match

• Sheffield United have extended their unbeaten run at home to Tottenham in the top flight to six games (W4 D2) since their last defeat in December 1975 (2-1).
• Tottenham have lost their first Premier League away game against a promoted side since a 1-0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers in April 2012, ending a run of 23 such matches (W19 D4).
• Sheffield United have gained their first league victory since the Premier League restart in June, with more shots on target against Tottenham (five) than they managed in their previous three such games combined (three).
• Jose Mourinho has lost seven Premier League games as Tottenham manager, one more defeat (6) than he suffered in his first two seasons in the competition as Chelsea boss (2004-05/2005-06) combined.
• No team has scored more goals via substitutes than Sheffield United (seven) in the Premier League this season, while no player has scored more as a substitute than Lys Mousset (three).
• Sander Berge has scored his first goal for Sheffield United in the Premier League on his eighth appearance, with his first shot on target in the competition.
• Sheffield United’s Chris Basham has registered his first Premier League assist since August 2010 for Blackpool, nine years and 323 days ago. This is the fourth longest gap between assists in the competition, and longest since Robbie Blake went 10 years and one day between October 1999 and October 2009.
• Tottenham’s Harry Kane has now scored against all 29 of the Premier League teams he has faced – he is the only player to face more than one club in the competition and score against all of them.

 

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