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London (AFP) – Defending champions Manchester City regained second place from Newcastle United by beating Leeds United 3-1 on Wednesday in the 17th round of the English Premier League.
City played their first league match after the World Cup stop in Qatar, and managed to win thanks to goals from Spaniard Rodri (45) and Norwegian Erling Haaland (51 and 64), while Dutchman Pascal Strojek he scored the only goal for Leeds (73).
City defeated their rivals, holders Liverpool, last week in the sixteenth round of the League Cup, setting up a date with Southampton in the quarter-finals.
City dropped back to second place with 35 points, 5 points behind leaders Arsenal and two points ahead of Newcastle III, although the latter has played more games. As for Leeds, they are in fifteenth place with 15 points.
City suffered a surprising 1-2 defeat to Brentford in their last game before all local tournaments halted to make room for the World Cup in Qatar.
City started the match in a 4-3-3 formation, with the presence of their attacking arsenal, led by goal machine Haaland, who almost opened the scoring a minute into the match, receiving the ball from Dutchman Nathan Ake, but Leeds’ French goalkeeper Ilan Meisler was on the lookout.
City dominated the entire first half, receiving just one shot on their own goal, against 12 on the opposition’s goal.
Jack Grealish also had two chances to put Spain manager Pep Guardiola’s team in front, the most dangerous of which came seconds before the opener, after a pass from Belgian Kevin De Bruyne to 18-year-old Rico Louis advanced on the right before returning it to Grealish, who is stationed in the middle, to shoot a ball that passes over the crossbar (45).
The visitors managed to snatch the progress goal before heading to the dressing rooms for a two-half break, after De Bruyne passed an elaborate ball to Rodri, who turned it over to Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez, then Messler blocked the his attempt, before the ball rebounded to the Spaniard, who shot directly on goal, giving City the lead (45).
City didn’t wait long after the start of the second half to confirm their control, after Haaland managed to double his side’s progress with a gift from Grealish on a gold platter, so the Norwegian could follow suit easily in goal (51) .
It looked as though Leeds had lost all their concentration after the second goal, in exchange for complete domination by the English champion, and once again Grealish and Haaland were featured, then exchanging passes before the latter struck a powerful ball who hit the Leeds goal (64) .
It is Haaland’s 45th goal in 42 official matches played in 2022.
Apart from the course of the match, the hosts managed to score a face-saving goal with Strojec, after a corner kick, which the Dutchman headed into Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson’s goal.
And Leeds received a dose of support after the goal and almost scored the second after a back pass from Sam Greenwood to replace Joe Gelhardt, who hit a long ball (79).
Bor – From / Dr. H
© 2022 AFP
