Premier League: City win another match to maintain lead at the top

Manchester City scored their 34th win of 2021, scoring two goals in each half that secured a 4-0 victory that ensured the defending champions are on top of the table during the festival period in the Premier League. Their eighth successive win also set a new record for victories (34) in a calendar year.

Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Riyad Mahrez, and Raheem Sterling were all on target in a game where the home side put up a good fight.

With this win, City maintained their position atop the table with 44 points from 18 matches with Liverpool second.

Chelsea, who had a chance of narrowing the gap but could not take three points after being held goalless by Wolverhampton Wanderers, are third with 38 points and Arsenal are fourth with 32 points from 18 games.

City got off to a dream start after just five minutes with a goal, in which home goalkeeper Martin Dubravka had a big role.

First, the Magpies keeper tried to play a short pass that went out for a corner, and then, from the resulting set-piece, a clever pass by Oleks Zinchenko picked out the run of Joao Cancelo, and the Portuguese's hooked cross was left on the near post by Ciaran Clark and Dubravka leaving Dias the simplest jobs of heading into the empty net.

The next 20 minutes or so weren't City's best , with possession uncharacteristically given away on a number of occasions. Newcastle's aggressive tackling during this period left Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva nursing knocks after over-zealous challenges.

City went 2-0 up in the 28th minute with a beautiful goal from Cancelo, who received a pass on the right before drifting inside past Joe Willock, cutting back inside another challenge before planting a rising shot into the top left corner from 20 yards.

It completed the first-half scoring and put the Blues in a strong position.

Newcastle began the second half with more high pressing, forcing one or two misplaced passes. But the first big chance of the second period came City's way 'hen Gabriel Jesus' point-blank header was pushed over by Dubravka on 53 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Riyad Mahrez did put the ball in the back of the net with a sweet close-range volley from Zinchenko's excellent cross. Though the assistant referee flagged it for offside, VAR confirmed the Algerian had timed his run to perfection.

It was also Mahrez's 50th goal for the Club in all competitions and his 11th of the season.

There were more chances to increase the margin of victory, and in the 86th-minute, City scored their fourth goal when Jesus ran around Murphy on the left before finding Raheem Sterling, who tapped home at the far post to cap a wonderful week for City.

--IANS

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