In a typical bout of David and Goliath, Manchester City locked horns with a pedestrian Newcastle United in the latter’s own den on Saturday. Basking in an emphatic victory over Lampard’s Chelsea, Guardiola’s wards were looking forward to reviving the chase to the title, shrugging off Leicester City in a three-pronged title race.
Newcastle United was left stunned by an aspiring Aston Villa after they went down by two goals to their struggling counterparts. With Jamaal Lascelles out of the equation until New Year, Newcastle’s defence has headed into an endless tailspin. City are the highest goal-scoring team in the fray for this edition, with 37 goals from 13 games.
However, what was expected to be Newcastle nightmare, transpired into something different on the night.
Last meeting between these two sides:
Despite, City being the victors in three of their last four meetings with Newcastle, the hosts thundered to a victory after going down by a goal, netted by Sergio Aguero as early as in the first minute of the game. Salomon Rondon and Matt Richie scored apiece to seal the fate of the game.
Another goal-fest but no winner
With almost the entire squad available for City, the Citizens travelled to Newcastle, in pursuit of three points. If a City fan thought that they were in for an easy night, the fan was surely wrong. With Aguero missing from the attack and Gabriel Jesus spearheading the attack, things were a bit off.
Kevin De Bruyne was once again in red-hot form and the Cityzens seemed absolutely unstoppable at the start. Despite that, the result just did not go their way and they ended up dropping a couple of points.
The Manchester-based side really missed the Argentine attacker, who could have really helped their cause. Dropping a couple of more points at this crucial stage might have just pushed them out of the title race.
Liverpool managed to secure yet another close win against Brighton, as they ended the game 2-1. On the other hand, Leicester too secured a narrow 2-1 win over Everton, after trailing through a Richarlison goal.
Points Gap At The Top Getting Wider
The draw means that the Reds now lead Pep Guardiola’s side by 11 points. Though the margin is huge at present, anything can happen in the top flight of English football. We have seen bigger leads being reduced to rubble and titles changing hands before.
Last season was a neck-to-neck fight between City and the Merseyside outfit. In the end, the Reds lost the title by a single point. Is such an upset on the cards this time around as well? Will Brendan Rodgers be able to beat his former side and clinch the Premier League title from their hands this time?
Only time will tell. However, the current Foxes’ side is brilliant. They have the fighting spirit of champions and can accomplish the impossible. This is something that they showcased in the match against The Toffees. A late goal, that was approved by VAR gave them all three points and could mean the end of Marco Silva’s job at Goodison Park. Will their domestic rivals suffer a similar misery too?
