Now it's on for Manchester City to win the English Premier League in the earliest and sweetest way possible: Victory over Manchester United in next Saturday's derby will seal the trophy for Pep Guardiola's runway leader.
"I have lived in Manchester long enough to know what it means," City captain Vincent Kompany said after Saturday's 3-1 win at Everton. "It will be lively and spicy but I don't mind."
Not even Alex Ferguson managed to clinch any of his 13 titles for United by beating the neighbors. Even more incredibly, City can secure its third title since 2012 with six games to spare thanks to the Manchester rivals both winning on Saturday.
Alexis Sanchez scored after setting up Romelu Lukaku's opener as United beat Swansea 2-0. City then cruised at Goodison Park, with Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, and Raheem Sterling scoring inside the first 37 minutes and Everton settling for a second-half consolation from Yannick Bolasie.
"We are so, so close and so happy with the performance," said Guardiola, whose side is back on Merseyside in midweek to face Liverpool in the Champions League quarterfinals.
United is already out of Europe. And the 20-time English champions' hopes of a first title since Ferguson retired in 2013 evaporated before the season reached its midway point. Holding onto second place will be a sign of progress, though, under Jose Mourinho.
Liverpool remained two points behind United — having played an additional game — after Mohamed Salah completed a comeback at Crystal Palace to win 2-1.
Tottenham, which has played two games fewer than Liverpool to trail by five points, travels to fifth-place Chelsea on Sunday as the London rivals tussle for the fourth Champions League spot.
It is unlikely that West Bromwich Albion will still be in the league next season, remaining 10 points from safety in last place after losing to Burnley 2-1. Next-from-last Stoke is at Arsenal on Sunday. Southampton, which occupies the remaining relegation place, lost to West Ham 3-0.
Palace remained two points above the drop zone, a point below Huddersfield, which lost to Newcastle 1-0. Swansea, like Huddersfield, is only three points clear of the bottom three.
Leicester is chasing a Europa League spot, beating Brighton 2-0 to stay three points behind seventh-place Burnley. The comfort of mid-table continued for Watford and Bournemouth after their 2-2 draw.
Salah secures Liverpool win in Klopp's 100th EPL game
Mohamed Salah scored his 37th goal of the season as Liverpool came from behind to secure a vital 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Sadio Mane scored the Liverpool equalizer early in the second half and was fortunate to avoid a red card. The visitors capitalized by securing all three points with Salah's 84th-minute effort to maintain their pursuit of a second-place finish.
Palace led at halftime following Luka Milivojevic's penalty but, after conceding another late goal at Selhurst Park, the south London club remains at risk of relegation from the Premier League.
"We kept going, kept fighting right until the end," Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson said. "Thankfully Mo got the goal for us. We maybe could have got in behind a bit more first half, we were a little bit disappointed with the first half in terms of we could have moved the ball a little bit quicker and created a few more chances.
"We knew coming here would be difficult, I thought the lads reacted brilliantly to grind out a result."
It was Juergen Klopp's 100th league game in charge of Liverpool
Palace had been boosted by Wilfried Zaha passing a late fitness test to start and he demonstrated his importance when he tested Loris Karius early on.
After being sent one-on-one with the goalkeeper following a fine ball from Cabaye and despite minimal time and space, he controlled with his left foot amid suspicions of handball before shooting with his right and watching Karius clear.
When he again went rushing through on goal, Karius needlessly rushed out and clumsily took him down, leaving referee Neil Swarbrick with little choice but to award the hosts a 13th-minute penalty.
For the seventh time this season, Milivojevic scored from the penalty spot, shooting powerfully into the bottom left corner while Karius dived right, to give Palace the lead.
It was then that Mane attempted to impose himself. In his own attempts to win a penalty he appeared to dive under minimal contact from James McArthur and was booked.
He has at times struggled to reproduce the same form as last season while Salah has excelled, and it was the Egyptian who tested Palace's Wayne Hennessey with a curling effort the goalkeeper jumped to collect.
With a low header from Salah's corner, Mane then forced Hennessey into a diving reaction save before McArthur scrambled clear, but Palace absorbed that pressure to retain its lead until four minutes into the second half.
Following James Milner's low ball from the left wing, the alert Mane finished low at the near post beyond Hennessey and was soon fortunate not to be sent off.
Christian Benteke missed the first of two fine chances against his former team when a header from Milivojevic sent him one-on-one with Karius before his composure deserted him and he hooked harmlessly wide.
Almost immediately after, Andros Townsend's run and pass put him into a promising position, but he then snatched at the ball and shot over the crossbar.
With Liverpool still under threat, Mane conceded a free-kick with a blatant handball that should have led to a second yellow card.
He was soon substituted, and then watched as his replacement Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain contributed to Salah's winning goal.
The midfielder's cross from the right wing found Andrew Robertson on the left, and when he played the ball towards Salah, the Egyptian coolly finished low into the bottom corner to secure all three points.
Mourinho invites rival into news conference after United win
Jose Mourinho was in such good spirits after Manchester United beat Swansea that he invited rival manager Carlos Carvalhal into his post-match news conference.
"Come on, come on — give cakes to the guys," Mourinho told his Portuguese compatriot after Saturday's 2-0 win, referencing how Carvalhal handed out cake to reporters ahead of the game.
Romelu Lukaku scored his 100th English Premier League goal and Alexis Sanchez doubled the lead with his second goal for United as they responded to a win by Liverpool — United's main rival for a second-place finish — earlier at Crystal Palace.
Lukaku is the 28th player to reach triple figures in Premier League goals. And, at 24 years and 322 days, he is the fifth quickest to get to that milestone after Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane.
"I'm really happy to achieve that in a league I've wanted to play in since I was six years old," he said.
The Belgium striker ran onto Sanchez's pass and scored with a deflected shot to put United ahead at Old Trafford in the fifth minute.
Sanchez, who had one of his best performances since joining from Arsenal in January, made it 2-0 in the 20th after being set up by Jesse Lingard.
David De Gea preserved United's clean sheet with a couple of smart saves off substitute Tammy Abraham in the second half.
"We pressed so high and strong, and then recovered the ball," Mourinho said. "We had lots of movement and passing. We arrived in many dangerous positions. We scored two; we should have scored at least one more.
"The second half was different. First of all, credit to Carlos because he improved the team at halftime. ... I could feel the intensity went down. We let them have the ball, we didn't press so high."
United is two points ahead of Liverpool.
West Ham mutiny calmed by beating Southampton, extra police
The West Ham mutiny was soothed by a resurgent performance producing a 3-0 victory over a listless Southampton, coupled with heightened security at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.
Marko Arnautovic's double after Joao Mario's opener ensured there was an unfamiliar soundtrack at the stadium unloved by so many West Ham fans: Cheers and applause.
"It's good news all round," the stadium announcer told fans after the final whistle. "Have a look at the table."
It showed West Ham moved five points clear of the English Premier League drop zone, where Southampton occupies the last relegation place.
Still, a relegation battle is not what West Ham envisaged when it moved into the stadium that was the centerpiece of the 2012 Olympics.
It's why West Ham fans are so restless. And it's why additional police officers patrolled the east London venue while stewards in football boots were stationed around the pitch ready to race onto the pitch to prevent a repeat of the invasions that blemished the last home game three weeks ago.
While there were protests outside the stadium against the West Ham hierarchy, early goals ensured joint-owners David Sullivan and David Gold had an afternoon without being targeted with missiles or throat-slitting gestures from fans as they endured during the previous fixture.
Having the fans back on side was crucial, banishing the toxic atmosphere for one afternoon at least.
"The players showed how they felt about past events, they were pent up and ready to go," West Ham manager David Moyes said. "I thought before kickoff the supporters showed they are with the club and with the team, and then the players showed what they were going to do. They really kicked on."
Few sides will surrender as meekly as Southampton, which was being managed for the first time in the league by Mark Hughes.
After winning only one of its last seven games, West Ham took the lead in the 13th minute when the unmarked Mario met Cheikhou Kouyate's cross. Arnautovic was on target in the 17th after an initial header was saved, and again with a volley in first-half stoppage time.
"I was raging when he missed an early chance," Moyes said, "but he got two more so good on him."
Arnautovic celebrated both goals in front of Hughes in a fraught reunion with his former manager at Stoke.
"I wasn't aware he was shouting in my direction," Hughes said. "You'd have to ask him what he said, I have no idea. Bless him."
Back in the Premier League after being fired by Stoke in December, Hughes offered little to suggest he can keep his new team in the top-flight with Southampton in a perilous state.
"We conceded three very poor goals," Hughes said. "There were some catastrophic errors which have been prevalent for some time and clearly we need to do something about it."
West Ham is on the rise again. Next up, though, is a testing derby at Chelsea and games in April against Arsenal and runway leader Manchester City.
"Unfortunately, we're either very good or we're not at all," said Moyes, who succeeded the fired Slaven Bilic in November. "What I need to do is try and bring a bit of consistency to the standard at West Ham. What I mean by that is when our performances drop, I need to find a way that it's not dropping as much as it has on a couple of occasions."
Both Moyes and Southampton counterpart Mark Hughes are in a relegation scrap having previously been in charge of the more illustrious Manchester clubs.
Moyes was dumped as Alex Ferguson's United successor in 2014 after less than a season with the Community Shield his only honor. Hughes was dismissed by City in 2009, a year into the Abu Dhabi ownership before getting a chance to secure silverware.
Both have reputations to rehabilitate, and that means avoiding dropping into the League Championship.
"It's not going to be easy," Hughes said. "I knew that when I took over. It was always going to test everybody connected with Southampton. So, we've got to suck it up, take it on the chin, dust ourselves down."
Burnley closer to Europe places after piling misery on WBA
Burnley kept alive its hopes of European football next season and edged West Bromwich Albion closer to relegation from the English Premier League in a 2-1 win on Saturday.There was little to choose between the sides. Neither have been prolific scorers but Burnley is organized and dogged, and when Ashley Barnes' scissor kick put the visitors ahead after 22 minutes it was already a long way back for the Baggies. They haven't come from behind to win a Premier League game since February last year.
Chris Wood marked his recall with the second goal after 73 minutes to seal a third straight league win, and move within two points of sixth-placed Arsenal.
Salomon Rondon pulled a goal back late on but West Brom's eighth consecutive defeat in the league kept it on the bottom of the table and 10 points from safety.
Defoe strikes late to grab point for Bournemouth at Watford
Watford and Bournemouth stayed in midtable comfort after a 2-2 draw in the English Premier League on Saturday with Jermain Defoe coming off the bench to rescue a stoppage-time point for the Cherries.
Roberto Pereyra's strike early in the second half looked as though it would be enough to secure victory for the Hornets at Vicarage Road but Defoe struck late on.
Kiko Femenia put Javi Gracia's side ahead only for the visitors to equalize before halftime through Joshua King's penalty.
Pereyra put Watford back in front soon after the interval, until Defoe turned home Nathan Ake's flick-on at the end.
It was the last meaningful action of a contest between sides who should be safe, nine points above the drop zone.
Watford broke the deadlock after 13 minutes as Femenia was picked out unmarked from a corner, his shot beating Asmir Begovic courtesy of a deflection off King.
Bournemouth was level before the break after Jose Holebas' handball in the box. King stepped up and sent Orestis Karnezis the wrong way.
Watford needed just four minutes of the second half to regain the lead as Will Hughes teed up Pereyra, whose effort clipped Dan Gosling on its way past Begovic.
Watford looked to be seeing the game out with relative ease. That was until a late free kick was pumped toward the Watford goal and Ake's header into the box bounced once before Defoe tucked away his first goal since Dec. 9 to earn his side a share of the spoils.
Leicester beats Brighton 2-0 in chase for Europa spot
Vicente Iborra and Jamie Vardy scored late goals as Leicester dented Brighton's Premier League survival hopes with a 2-0 win on Saturday.
Iborra nodded the ball into the bottom right corner in the 83rd minute before Vardy tapped home the second in stoppage time.
Brighton striker Glenn Murray had seen a 77th-minute penalty saved by Kasper Schmeichel, while Leicester ended the game with 10 men after Wilfred Ndidi was dismissed for a second yellow card with the score at 1-0.
Brighton remains just six points clear of danger with seven games remaining following the late drama.
Claude Puel's Leicester, meanwhile, boosted its chances of Europa League qualification by staying three points behind seventh-place Burnley.
Perez pushes Newcastle closer to Premier League safety
Ayoze Perez fired Newcastle to the brink of Premier League safety with his fifth goal of the season securing a 1-0 victory over Huddersfield on Saturday.
The Spaniard slid home Kenedy's 80th-minute cross to break the deadlock on a tense afternoon at St. James' Park, much to the relief of the bulk of a crowd of 52,261.
Dwight Gayle and Matt Ritchie had earlier passed up good opportunities to give their side the lead, but on a day when loan signing Islam Slimani belatedly made his debut as a substitute, the drama came amid a tense conclusion.
The Magpies eased themselves seven points clear of the drop zone, leaving the visitors four points behind in the pursuit of a second season in the Premier League.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2GNCAv4
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