Manchester Metropolis keep 10 factors away from United and Leic…

LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Manchester Metropolis chalked up yet one more victory to take care of their stranglehold of the Premier League title race however pursuers Manchester United and Leicester Metropolis each secured necessary wins to boost their top-four bids on Sunday.

Raheem Sterling’s header after 75 seconds was sufficient for Metropolis to win 1-0 at Arsenal — a end result rather more comfy than the slim scoreline suggests.

It was their thirteenth Premier League win in a row, and 18th in all competitions, equalled a club-record 11 successive away wins and saved them 10 factors forward of the pack on the prime.

“There are 39 factors to play for and we’d like the victories to be champions and we’ll attempt within the subsequent video games,” mentioned Metropolis boss Pep Guardiola, bidding for his third title in 4 seasons. “We solely consider the following sport, that is the one secret.”

United and Leicester are each on 49 factors with United in second place on objective distinction after they secured a 3-1 residence victory over struggling Newcastle United in Sunday’s late sport.

Marcus Rashford fired a lacklustre United forward out of the blue within the thirtieth minute however Allan Saint-Maximin’s volley acquired Newcastle again on degree phrases.

Daniel James put United again into the lead after the break earlier than Bruno Fernandes sealed the factors with a penalty.

“It’s all the time tough after an away sport in Europe,” supervisor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer mentioned of United’s flat begin towards Newcastle. “It took us till halftime to get going.”

Leicester had earlier gone second by beating Aston Villa 2-1 due to first-half objectives by James Maddison and Harvey Barnes.

Villa suffered a blow with playmaker and captain Jack Grealish dominated out with a leg harm however pushed Leicester exhausting after the break with Bertrand Traore halving the deficit. Leicester did sufficient although to please supervisor Brendan Rodgers.

“I believed a few of our soccer and the velocity of our sport was actually, actually good. We didn’t have too many considerations defensively,” Rodgers mentioned.

With Chelsea being held on Saturday by Southampton and champions Liverpool crumbling to a primary residence defeat by Everton for 23 years, West Ham United took the possibility to maneuver into the highest 4 with a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

It’s the first time since 1986 that the Hammers are as excessive as fourth after a minimum of 25 video games of a top-flight marketing campaign and hopes of European soccer are hovering in London’s East Finish.

Michail Antonio gave West Ham an early lead and Manchester United loanee Jesse Lingard doubled their benefit simply after the interval earlier than Lucas Moura’s header made it a nervy last 25 minutes for the hosts.

“The gamers have been discovering methods to wrestle factors off the opposition,” mentioned West Ham supervisor David Moyes, whose aspect have received seven of their final 9 league video games.

“They’ve carried out an excellent job. You want a little bit of luck alongside the best way however we had all the fitting issues.”

For Tottenham, a season that promised a title problem once they topped the standings in December is disintegrating after a fifth defeat in six league video games heaped strain on supervisor Jose Mourinho who urged a top-four end was now very tough, contemplating they’re ninth, 9 factors behind West Ham.

“I wouldn’t say disaster. I’d say a very unhealthy run of outcomes. We’re shedding too many matches,” Mourinho mentioned. (Reporting by Martyn Herman; enhancing by Clare Fallon)