LAGOS: Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero put four past Leicester City to bring his tally for the campaign up to 21 goals and help his team seal a 5-1 win, boosting the Citizens 16 points clear at the Premier League summit.
Tottenham Hotspur clinched back-to-back home wins over Arsenal on Saturday for the first time in five years as Premier League top scorer Harry Kane notched the 1-0 winner in the north London derby.
Gunners striker Alexandre Lacazette missed a series of late chances to equalise as Arsenal shanked their chances at Wembley Stadium, where Kane moved clear in the top-scorer hunt with his 23rd goal of the campaign.
Everton beat Crystal Palace 3-1 to clinch their second win in three games, with Gylfi Sigurdsson, Oumar Niasse and Tom Davies getting on the scoresheet to help seal a conclusive victory.
Swansea City’s rejuvenation under Carlos Carvalhal continued with a 1-0 win against Burnley, while West Ham United eased to a 2-0 triumph over Watford and Stoke City drew 1-1 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Saturday’s Results
Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Arsenal
Everton 3-1 Crystal Palace
Stoke City 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Swansea City 1-0 Burnley
West Ham United 2-0 Watford
Manchester City 5-1 Leicester City
Review
City bounced back from their disappointing 1-1 draw at Burnley by dominating Leicester 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium, where it only took three minutes for Raheem Sterling to open scoring.
Kevin De Bruyne set up the strike with the first of his three assists on the evening, bringing him clear of the rest of the continent’s elite in goal creation, per Squawka:
But the night was Aguero’s as the Argentinian netted his 12th Manchester City hat-trick, and he propelled City to a convincing win with four second-half strikes after Jamie Vardy scored to tie the clubs 1-1 at half-time.
The fourth of Aguero’s strikes was the pick of the bunch, powering a quivering shot over the head of Kasper Schmeichel and off the Leicester crossbar, per Sky Sports Statto:
Kane’s seventh goal in eight appearances in the north London derby saw Tottenham stretch the gap distancing them from Arsenal to seven points, Spurs now third at least until Liverpool play Southampton on Sunday.
A goalless first half was turned around early in the first half when Ben Davies’ cross found Kane in the middle, and the England frontman revelled in his glanced decider, which bounced just inside Petr Cech’s left post:
Both club-record signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and previous record-holder Lacazette had performances to forget at Wembley, struggling to test Tottenham stopper Hugo Lloris, while Cech was regularly active and had a fine display.
While the goals weren’t in abundance at Wembley, three-second half goals from Sigurdsson, Niasse and Davies sealed a comprehensive win for Everton over Palace, although that hasn’t convinced BT Sport pundit Tim Sherwood that Sam Allardyce will stay beyond this season:
Luka Milivojevic converted a late penalty to give the Eagles a consolation goal before the end, with Palace’s winless run now stretched to four games on the bounce.
On the other hand, Swansea are now five games unbeaten and continue their resurgence under Carvalhal, whose third win in five outings has given the club the kick they needed, per Match of the Day‘s Leon Osman:
West Ham brought an end to their three-game winless streak by beating Watford, whose 4-1 win over Chelsea on Monday was quickly forgotten thanks to goals from Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic.
Arnautovic scored on his return from injury to help cement the three points at the London Stadium after Chicharito showcased typical predatory instinct from close range, per BT Sport Score:
Brighton couldn’t hold onto the 1-0 lead Jose Izquierdo gave them at the Bet365 Stadium and settled for a draw at Stoke after Xherdan Shaqiri unearthed space cutting off the right to curl in a brilliant left-footed strike.
A point was only sufficient to take the Potters level on points with 17th-placed Newcastle United, who host Manchester United on Sunday, while Brighton remain 13th, three points below Bournemouth in 10th.
