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Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle
Goals: Gundogan (14), Torres (55)
“Manchester City”: Ederson – Cancello, Diaz, Stones, Ake – Rodri (Fernandinho, 58), Gundogan, De Bruyne – Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Torres (Agüero, 77)
“Newcastle”: Darlow – Yedlin, Sher, Fernandez, Clark, Ritchie (Jamal Louis, 66) – Murphy, Hayden, M. Longstaff, Almiron (Gail, 82) – Joelinton (Carroll, 71)
Manchester City coped well with the Newcastle bus. Steve Bruce’s team, playing almost the most defensive football among all teams in the top 5 leagues, did not deviate from their usual plan in the game with the “citizens”. The Magpies hit 5 defenders, hoping to take advantage of their not-so-convincing offensive play (City only scored 19 Premier League goals before today’s game).
João Canselo played a key role in the match, organizing the first two goals of the match with his attacking connections. In the first half, the Portuguese played an inverted winger, constantly moving towards the opponent’s support zone, while Sterling gave amplitude in the attack. Then the first ball came: Kanselu opened up the middle, cut through the defense with a pass to Sterling and rolled Gundogan into an empty net.
In the second half, Canselo played extensively as a traditional winger, and Bernardo Silva was already his teammate on the wing, moving towards the center. In this scenario, City was even stronger than before the break. And again João’s connection, a cross to Torres and after a rebound from Fernández, Ferran calmly put the ball into the corner at point blank range.
It is rare that this season Manchester City have been very confident at all stages of the game. Even under pressure, where the team struggled all year. The variability of Guardiola’s team puzzled the rival, and the Catalan’s tactical restructuring was adequate and worked very well. There is no chance for Newcastle.
Sheffield United 0-1 Everton
Objective: Sigurdsson (80)
“Sheffield”: Rumzdale – Beshem, Igan, Robinson – Boldock, Ampadu, Osborne, Stevens – McGoldrick (Norwood, 63), Brewster (Mousse, 76) – Burke (McBurney, 46)
Everton: Pickford – Holgate, Mina, Keane (Coleman, 66), Godfrey – Dukure, Davis (Gomes, 74) – Iwobi, Sigurdsson, Gordon (Bernard, 55) – Calvert-Lewin
Everton have been at least temporarily second in the Premier League, beating Sheffield on the road in a difficult match. Carlo Ancelotti’s team clearly lacked the creative power of Richarlison and James Rodríguez, who are absent with injuries throughout the game. The situation was aggravated by the presence of nominal center-backs Godfrey and Holgate on the flanks of the defense. They did not connect well to attacks and did not use the freedom on the sidelines provided by the opponent.
Sheffield fought back hard throughout the game at 5-4-1 and pretty much completely neutralized the candy. However, the favorite still managed to get 3 not quite natural points. Ten minutes before the end of the meeting, the assault on “Everton” still paid off. Gylfi Sigurdsson had unacceptable freedom after a mess in the penalty area and the Icelander slammed the ball into the corner of the goal with a shot from mid-range.
“Sheffield” has suffered for the ninth minimum defeat of the season and remains at the bottom of the table with two points in the asset. Chris Wilder’s team was unlucky again, although they still have nothing to do with those players in the Premier League. It is difficult to imagine a scenario in which the “blades” still manage to escape the flight.
