Sergio Aguero was left waiting to become Manchester City’s outright all-time leading goal-scorer as his side remained five points clear at the top of the Premier League table on Saturday. Aguero was named on the bench as City saw off West Bromwich Albion 3-2, having failed to surpass the club record of 177 goals he shares with Eric Brook during a midweek League Cup penalty shoot-out win over Championship side Wolves.
There were three goals in a frantic five-minute spell at The Hawthorns on Saturday. Leroy Sane produced a stunning strike to give City a 10th-minute lead only for West Brom’s Jay Rodriguez to equalise soon afterwards.
But come the 15th minute, City were 2-1 up after Fernandinho let fly with a speculative shot that deflected off Gareth Barry and went in off the post. City substitute Raheem Sterling gave the visitors a two-goal lead with a close-range finish in the 64th minute only for the Baggies’ to pull a goal back late on through Matt Phillips after a defensive blunder.
Second-placed Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur started the day level on points but Jose Mourinho’s men edged ahead after substitute Anthony Martial’s goal nine minutes from time gave them a 1-0 win over a Spurs side missing injured England striker Harry Kane.
‘Last ball of their careers’
“Today, every ball looked like the last ball of their careers,” said United manager Mourinho, who slammed his players’ attitude following a shock 2-1 loss to Huddersfield last week. This was Spurs’ second defeat of the week after their League Cup loss to London rivals West Ham.
“It was unlucky that in the last 10 minutes we conceded our goal,” said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino. “It was our mistake,” he added after his defence failed to deal with a long clearance from United goalkeeper David De Gea that Romelu Lukaku headed on to Martial. Tottenham’s north London rivals Arsenal had to come from behind to see off struggling Swansea 2-1.
The Gunners fell behind when Sam Clucas put the visitors 1-0 up in the 22nd minute. But Arsene Wenger’s men were back on level terms early in the second half at the Emirates when Sead Kolasinac rifled a shot past former Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski from 15 yards out. Kolasinac then turned provider for Aaron Ramsey as the Wales midfielder made it 2-1 in the 58th minute.
“Our pace wasn’t sharp enough in the first half, we and we had to up the tempo,” said Wenger after his 800th Premier League game in charge of the Gunners.
Liverpool, fresh from an embarrassing 4-1 loss to Tottenham, beat Huddersfield 3-0 despite Mohamed Salah missing a first-half penalty in a match that pitted Reds manager Jurgen Klopp against Terriers boss David Wagner – the best man at his wedding.
‘Nice day’ for Liverpool
Daniel Sturridge broke the deadlock five minutes into the second half before Roberto Firmino doubled Liverpool’s lead in the 58th minute with a header. Georginio Wijnaldum then added a third late on.
“The first half was a little bit stiff, that was clear,” said Klopp. “We were more direct (in the second half) and now it is a nice day!” Wilfried Zaha’s goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time saw basement club Crystal Palace come from 2-0 down to salvage a 2-2 draw with West Ham at Selhurst Park. Javier Hernandez and Andre Ayew, with a 25-yard shot that went in off the crossbar, put the Hammers 2-0 up before Palace pulled a goal back through a penalty from Luka Milivojevic.
“It feels like a defeat,” said under-pressure Hammers boss Slaven Bilic, but Roy Hodgson reckoned a draw was the least his Palace side deserved from a game “where you only faced two shots and you’ve had 20-odd, and hit the post and had one cleared off the line”. Former Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher’s 16th-minute goal gave Stoke City a much-needed 1-0 win at Watford.
Bournemouth face Chelsea in Saturday’s late kick-off. South coast duo Brighton and Southampton meet on Sunday when Leicester play Everton in former Saints boss Claude Puel’s first game in charge of the Foxes. Burnley welcome Newcastle to Turf Moor on Monday.
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