One more victory, and it would be nine in a row, would guarantee next Sunday the fourth Premier League in a row for Manchester City, which won (0-2) at Tottenham and left the London team without options to play in the next Champions League. in which Unai Emery breaks in with Aston Villa. It all happened in a postponed match that had to be made up to update the standings, which now indicate that City is two points ahead of Arsenal before the final matchday. The defending champions will host West Ham United at home. The gunners, who will face Everton and this Tuesday they needed their archrival from the north of the English capital to scratch at least a draw against City. There was no case, Pep Guardiola’s team is a roller.
0
Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Mickey van de Ven, Radu Drăgușin, Cristian Romero, Pape Sarr (Giovani Lo Celso, min. 84), Hojbjerg (Oliver Skipp, min. 84), James Maddison (Mikey Moore, min. 92), Rodrigo Bentancur (Dejan Kulusevski, min. 54), Heung-Min Son and Brennan Johnson
2
Ederson Moraes (Stefan Ortega, min. 68), Walker, Gvardiol, Rúben Dias, Manuel Akanji, De Bruyne (Jeremy Doku, min. 68), Kovacic, Bernardo Silva, Foden, Rodrigo and Erling Braut Haaland (Julián Álvarez, min. 94)
Goals 0-1 min. 51: Erling Braut Haaland. 0-2 min. 91: Erling Braut Haaland.
Referee Chris Kavanagh
Yellow cards Rodrigo Bentancur (min. 35), Pape Sarr (min. 57), Cristian Romero (min. 63), Kovacic (min. 70), Foden (min. 88) and Bernardo Silva (min. 100)
One goal was enough to decide the championship. It was scored by Haaland, who entered the goal with the ball after a serve from Kevin de Bruyne in a play that once again exposed the talent of Phil Foden, who stole the ball from an opponent in midfield and acted as a winger for the goal. a change of pace overwhelms Tottenham’s defense. The action, at the beginning of the second half, turned into an even match that was played on the wire of high pressure and the search for superiority from one’s own area. City passed up several options before Haaland relieved them of emergencies. The Spurs fought, in case anyone had doubts. They showed themselves from the beginning with a shot from Bentancur that stretched Ederson, but they suffered because his left flank was a highway. With no left-backs available, coach Ange Postecoglou fielded the leathery central defender Van de Ven there, who tended to close the interior corridors and neglected the lime line. Kyle Walker struck there to generate one fire after another.
City lacked finesse in finishing and that’s why at half-time the score at zero worried them. The goal gave him life against a rival for whom a tie would solve nothing. In reality, the tie was of no use to anyone. So the Spurs, who were not helping themselves with parity and were helping Arsenal, deployed greedily. The Argentine central defender Romero did it too much, running over Ederson and taking him out of the game. Guardiola replaced the goalkeeper because he did not trust his physical condition, also because he had a top goalkeeper in reserve.
The German Stefan Ortega was once again decisive for his team. He denied the goal on two occasions to Kulusevski, who refreshed the local attack already at a disadvantage on the scoreboard. City closed, aware of the treasure it had in its hands. “If we don’t beat Tottenham we are not going to be champions,” Guardiola had prescribed the day before. Until the play of the year arrived, the one that will surely define the championship. With the game in its death throes, central defender Akanji made a mistake on a trapeze that had no net and Son went for the City goal and almost certainly a title for Arsenal. In a few eternal seconds Guardiola dropped to the floor. There he saw, sitting on the ground, how Ortega deployed in a graceful spagat to wall the goal. While the entire staff shook off their stupor, dribbler Doku caused a penalty in the Spurs area. Foden obviously ran the operations. And Haaland took out the cannon to blow up the Premier League, whose trophy should once again be paraded around the Etihad Stadium on Sunday around seven in the afternoon.
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