(Football news) Premier League champions and league leaders Manchester City extended their lead over Liverpool and Chelsea to eight points with a 1-0 win over Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium. A goal by Phil Foden was all it took for Pep Guardiola’s side to secure three points and remain in pole position to retain the title heading into the new year.
Phil Foden had not started in a Premier League match since the 21 year old, along with Jack Grealish, were dropped due to their off-field behavior. However, the England international scored in the 16th minute from a Kevin De Bruyne cross to make it ten consecutive wins for Manchester City. Brentford could have equalized in a frantic five minute spell that saw Yoane Wissa's shot cleared off the line by Joao Cancelo.
City could have scored a second as De Bruyne’s shot hit the woodwork and Foden found the back of the net again but was ruled offside. With this result Brentford remains 14th in the Premier League with 20 points from 18 games while City will next face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on January 1st at 6 pm IST, hoping to establish a mammoth 11 point lead at the top of the Premier League table.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola: "We played well and were so intelligent. We gave away some unnecessary fouls, but in the second half, we were much, much better. We have a good victory and we head back to Manchester tonight and recover as on January 1 we have another game. I'm very proud of my players, as all the managers are making arguments about the schedule which we made one or two weeks ago, but we're in a good run. We're only at the end of December so there are many more games.
"We are eight points in front but there are 54 points still to play for. We needed this type of rhythm in order to win today. If we attacked quicker, they could've caused us problems so it was the rhythm we needed today. Against Leicester, we were 4-0 up and then it was 4-3 very quickly. There are 54 points to play for, so I won't respond to talk that the title race is already done. Liverpool and Chelsea are exceptional. One are the champions of Europe and the other have been our rivals for many years. They've not been bad, we've just won 10 games in a row. We need to be calm, recover and come back to London in a few days again to play at 12.30pm."
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Chelsea were inflicted with a major blow to their title aspirations as a stoppage time equalizer by Danny Welbeck ensured the Blues drew 1-1 against Brighton at Stamford Bridge. Following Romelu Lukaku’s opening goal in the 26th minute, Thomas Tuchel’s team survived a barrage of pressure from Brighton until Danny Welbeck headed home from Marc Cucurella's cross (90+1) to give a deserving point to the Seagulls. The result was a major disappointment for the hosts who are now eight points behind Manchester City and have only won one out of their last four Premier League matches.
Despite the pressure from Brighton, the introduction of N’Golo Kante in the second half swung the momentum in Chelsea’s favor. However, the Blues were wasteful in front of goal as they had several opportunities to extend their lead and clearly missed the likes of Reece James and Andreas Christensen due to hamstring and back injuries. The draw ensures Chelsea are now above Liverpool in second place but could be 11 points behind Manchester City if the reigning champions defeat Arsenal on Saturday.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel said “Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel: "We knew before that this was going to be a tough match against a strong side. They come well prepared. It's always like this. I have not seen one team play a nice match against them, so it was clear we would struggle. We simply have way too many players of whom we don't know what we can demand. They come from long injuries, they come from Covid. I simply don't know what they are capable of doing. We started very, very well, until the injury to Reece James, which was a huge blow. Then we lose Andreas Christensen, who was until then again one of the top players on the pitch. At some point, it's too much."
