The seventh consecutive victory in the Premier League leaves Manchester City facing a new victory. It would be the sixth in the last seven seasons, the fourth in a row, a milestone never achieved in the English championship. City, with two games to play, can be champions next Tuesday if Arsenal, who are now two points behind, do not win this Sunday in their visit to Manchester United, their penultimate match on the calendar. In that case, a victory in the field of Tottenham, the historical archrival of the gunners, would put Pep Guardiola on a new altar. The minstrels of North American sport would have it very clear: City would have formed a dynasty.
0
Leno, Calvin Ughelumba, Castagne, Robinson, Issa Diop, Bobby Reid (Cairney, min. 45), Alex Iwobi, João Palhinha, Andreas Pereira (Harry Wilson, min. 74), Willian (Adama Traoré, min. 45) and Rodrigo (Armando Broja, min. 66)
4
Ederson Moraes, Aké (Walker, min. 22), Rúben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Gvardiol, Bernardo Silva, Foden (Oscar Bobb, min. 82), Rodrigo, De Bruyne (Jeremy Doku, min. 75), Kovacic (Rico Lewis , min. 81) and Erling Braut Haaland (Julián Álvarez, min. 81)
Goals 0-1 min. 12: Gvardiol. 0-2 min. 58: Foden. 0-3 min. 71: Gvardiol. 0-4 min. 96: Julián Álvarez.
Referee Anthony Taylor
Yellow cards Issa Diop (min. 77) and Robinson (min. 90)
The new step towards glory was taken in London, on the banks of the Thames, where the thunder thunders. London Calling of The Clash tuned in on Wonderwall by Noel Gallagher to gloss the tyranny of a team that makes you fall in love. City defeated Fulham (0-4), a giant killer that this season denied Arsenal five points. A league. He beat him wire to wire because he moved it and nullified it in such a way that Ederson was barely forced to stretch once. It happened almost at game time. In the next play came City’s second goal, in case anyone had doubts.
The game was put back on track by two left-handers after using their right foot. Defender Gvardiol opened it in the thirteenth minute after his team made 19 passes. The most expensive defender in the world looked for a triangle on the right side of the Fulham defense, there he ended up teaming up with De Bruyne to enter the heart of the local area and finish coolly. Neither before nor after there was hardly any news from Fulham, who wanted to make a comeback with two changes at half-time and a call, above all, for Adama Traoré to look for one-on-one against Gvardiol. It was there where he found his only dangerous action, culminating in a backheel from Brazilian Rodrigo Muniz to which Ederson responded. That was when the best footballer in the championship, Phil Foden, appeared to sentence. “The game ended there,” Marco Silva, the local coach, acknowledged at the end. Because two goals against without the ball at their feet were an insurmountable wall for Fulham, who also played with the lack of fang typical of those who no longer play in the classification.
Fulham let itself be carried away by the blue wave of City, which rounded off the score with another goal from Gvardiol, the fifth in the last seven games, and a late penalty conceded by Julián Álvarez – the Argentine striker denied the Croatian defender the option of a hat-trick – from the eleven meters that served to start the party: “We have Pep Guardiola, we have Pep Guardiola”, the City stands began to chant. If the League is, as John Toshack says, the bread and butter are all on the way to disappointment.
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