Foden goal spares Man City’s blush in win over Leeds
AFP, London :
Phil Foden spared Manchester City’s blushes with a last-gasp winner after the Premier League title challengers blew a two-goal lead in a dramatic 3-2 win over lowly Leeds on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola’s side were in danger of losing more ground in the title race following a second-half collapse at the Etihad Stadium.
Foden and Josko Gvardiol put City two up before the interval, but third-bottom Leeds hit back through Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha.
Foden clinched a nerve-jangling victory that lifted City into second place, four points behind leaders Arsenal, who travel to third-placed Chelsea on Sunday.
It was a much-needed win after consecutive defeats against Newcastle last weekend and Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
“It was a relief,” Guardiola said. “The game was not perfect in the first half but it should be over with the chances we had. “Football is emotions. We conceded the second and after we made a step up.
In the end it’s the quality of Phil.” Guardiola’s decision to make 10 changes against Leverkusen backfired in a 2-0 loss that prompted the furious Spaniard to claim his players “didn’t try”.
Foden, Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Gianluigi Donnarumma were among the stars back in City’s starting line-up for the Leeds clash.
City had made their worst start to a campaign for five years and their second-worst under Guardiola.
But they took just 59 seconds to move in front as Foden fired a close-range strike in off the bar.
Leeds had no answer to City’s slick start and Gvardiol looked to have put the hosts in complete control with a tap-in from Nico O’Reilly’s header in the 25th minute.
Calvert-Lewin made an immediate impact after coming off the bench, reducing the deficit with a clinical finish after pouncing on Matheus Nunes’ woeful pass inside the City area in the 49th minute.
Leeds equalised in the 68th minute when Nmecha’s penalty — awarded for Gvardiol’s foul on Calvert-Lewin — was saved by Donnarumma before the forward recovered to score from the rebound.
In stoppage-time, Foden cleverly made room in the area for an ice-cool finish as Guardiola breathed a sigh of relief.
Leeds’ sixth defeat in their last seven matches increased the pressure on manager Daniel Farke.
Newcastle celebrated boss Eddie Howe’s 48th birthday with a 4-1 rout of Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.A first away league win since April 7 was the ideal present for Howe, whose side made an explosive start when Malick Thiaw headed home from Lewis Miley’s corner after just 52 seconds.
It was the fastest goal in the Premier League this season.
Beaten in their previous four away games, Newcastle netted again in the 25th minute when Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford allowed Miley’s shot to squirm past his woeful attempted save.
Everton looked exhausted after playing with 10 men for much of Monday’s win at Manchester United, when Senegal midfielder Idrissa Gueye was sent off for slapping team-mate Michael Keane.
Nick Woltemade made it three with a cheeky chip over Pickford in the 45th minute.
Thiaw’s 58th-minute header added to Everton’s misery and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 70th-minute eye-catching strike was little consolation for David Moyes’ men.
Brentford striker Igor Thiago reached 11 league goals this season as his double fuelled a 3-1 win against second-bottom Burnley in west London.
Igor Thiago and Zian Flemming traded penalties late in the second half, before the Brazilian bagged his second in the 86th minute and Dango Ouattara put the result beyond doubt in stoppage-time.
Sunderland climbed to fourth place after fighting back from two goals down to beat Bournemouth 3-2 at the Stadium of Light.
Amine Adli and Tyler Adams, with an audacious effort from the half-way line, scored for Bournemouth in the first half.
But Enzo Le Fee’s 30th-minute penalty was followed by Bertrand Traore 46th-minute equaliser.
Brian Brobbey completed Sunderland’s stirring revival, heading in Le Fee’s cross in the 69th minute.