Manchester City beat Sunderland, return to EPL top 3

Manchester City walked away with a comfortable 2-0 win against hosts Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in round 27 of English Premier League (EPL) football championship, regaining third place in the standings.

Argentine striker Sergio Aguero opened the scoring for the Citizens Sunday in the 42nd minute on a cross executed by Raheem Sterling, reports Efe. Sterling found Aguero on the side and the Argentine did not hesitate in popping the ball over goalkeeper Jordan Pickford at the near post.

In the 59th minute, German winger Leroy Sane ran to David Silva's perfect pass in space and finished it off on the inside of the far post to double the tally for Manchester City.

Less than 10 minutes before the final whistle, the referee called off Sunderland's first goal, signaling an offside.

Manchester City now have 55 points and snatched back third place from Liverpool.

The Citizens are just one point from second-place Tottenham and three ahead of Liverpool, who are in fourth place.

While Manchester City are on the hunt to close an eight-point gap with leaders Chelsea, Sunderland have just 19 points and remain the bottom dweller in the standings.

After the match, City chief coach Pep Guardiola City was pleased with the win, but felt that his players dropped their energy levels after the second goal, potentially allowing the hosts a route back into the game.

"We are so happy, we played good," said Guardiola, according to City's website. "It was tough in the first few minutes, we expected them to be aggressive in terms of intensity and play.

"We scored a very good first goal to go in at half-time with a 1-0 lead which was completely different to draw or losing. In the second half, we played really good, but in the last 30 minutes, we didn't play to score a goal.

--IANS

pur/vt