Man City Go Clear At Top

Manchester City will be top of the Premier League table at Christmas after they breezed past Newcastle 4-0 with Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Riyad Mahrez, and Raheem Sterling scoring the goals.

Newcastle made City’s task far easier than it should have been by gifting them the opening goal – scored by Dias on five minutes mark after a comical mix-up between Ciaran Clark and goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

Cancelo then netted his first Premier League goal of the season on 27 minutes he made a rasping drive from the edge of the box. It is in contention for Goal of the Season. Newcastle had a strong penalty appeal waved away moments later when Ederson wiped out Ryan Fraser but a comeback never looked likely, especially when Mahrez tucked home City’s third on 63 minutes following a VAR review. Sterling added a fourth late on, scoring City’s 11th goal in their last two fixtures.

Pep’s side broke another PL record as they have now won 34 PL games in 2021, setting a new top-division record for most wins in a calendar year and will top the tree on Christmas Day.

“Good result,” Pep Guardiola said when asked for his assessment at his post-match press conference.

“Exceptional [result], in a not very good performance at all, especially the first half.

“We were lucky for the goal we scored at the beginning of the game. The second goal was a brilliant action from Joao [Cancelo], but the way we played in the first half was one of the poorest of the season.

“The first half was a dangerous position. The second half was much, much better.