Manchester City’s footballers won 3:1 in the English league at Arsenal and thanks to a better score they are first.
The “Gunners” did not win in the Premier League for the third time in a row, but they have a game to spare against the defending champion.
“Citizens” took the lead in the 24th minute in the overtime of the 12th round. Home defender Tomiyasu “greased” the ball to De Bruyne and the Belgian midfielder lobbed goalkeeper Ramsdale.
The London team equalized in the 42nd minute thanks to Saka’s penalty.
After the change of sides, however, the guests struck twice between the 72nd and 82nd minutes. The winning goal was scored by Grealish, who was followed up by the best scorer of the competition, Haaland.
The Norwegian gunner scored his 26th goal in the league season, which was achieved only by Sergio Agüero in the 2014/15 season in a City jersey. But the Argentinian striker needed 33 games to do that, while Haaland only 22.
The visiting coach Guardiola thus once again surpassed his former assistant at City and now Arsenal coach Arteta.
Manchester City defeated the “Gunners” in the eleventh league game in a row. Since December 2015, he has not lost to him even in 14 consecutive matches in the Premier League.
English Football League – 12th round play-off:
Arsenal – Manchester City 1:3 (42. Saka z pen. – 24. De Bruyne, 72. Grealish, 82. Haaland).
| 1. | Manchester City | 23 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 59:23 | 51 |
| 2. | Arsenal | 22 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 47:21 | 51 |
| 3. | Manchester United | 23 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 38:28 | 46 |
| 4. | Newcastle | 22 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 35:13 | 41 |
| 5. | Tottenham | 23 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 42:35 | 39 |
| 6. | Brighton | 21 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 39:28 | 35 |
| 7. | Fulham | 23 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 34:30 | 35 |
| 8. | Brentford | 22 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 36:29 | 34 |
| 9. | Liverpool | 21 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 36:28 | 32 |
| 10. | Chelsea | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 23:22 | 31 |
| 11. | Aston Villa | 22 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 26:34 | 28 |
| 12. | Crystal Palace | 22 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 20:30 | 25 |
| 13. | Leicester | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 36:38 | 24 |
| 14. | Nottingham | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 17:37 | 24 |
| 15. | Wolverhampton | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 17:31 | 23 |
| 16. | West Ham United | 22 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 19:27 | 20 |
| 17. | Leeds | 22 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 28:38 | 19 |
| 18. | Everton | 22 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 16:30 | 18 |
| 19. | Bournemouth | 22 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 20:44 | 18 |
| 20. | Southampton | 22 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 18:40 | 15 |
Real beat Elche
Real Madrid football players won in the 21st round of the Spanish league thanks to two goals from Karim Benzema over the last Elche 4:0. The defending champions are eight points behind leaders Barcelona.
The “White Ballet”, which dominated the club world championship on Saturday, decided on the triumph in the opening act, when it prevailed three times. Asensio opened the scoring in the eighth minute, then Benzema scored twice from the penalty kick.
With the first converted penalty, he became independent from Raúl in second place among Real’s all-time best league scorers. In total with today’s goals, he has 230 of them, Cristiano Ronaldo leads the list with 311 goals. Substitute Modrič decided the final result in the 80th minute.
Hopelessly last Elche, which won for the first time in the league season last year, has a twelve-point gap on the first place guaranteeing salvation.
Spanish Football League – Round 21:
Real Madrid – Elche 4:0 (31st and 45th +1 both from pen. Benzema, 8th Asensio, 80th Modric).
| 1. | FC Barcelona | 21 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 43:7 | 56 |
| 2. | Real Madrid | 21 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 44:17 | 48 |
| 3. | San Sebastian | 21 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 31:21 | 42 |
| 4. | Atletico Madrid | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 30:17 | 38 |
| 5. | Betis Seville | 21 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 27:22 | 34 |
| 6. | Vallecano | 21 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 28:23 | 33 |
| 7. | Bilbao | 21 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 31:22 | 32 |
| 8. | Villarreal | 21 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 22:18 | 31 |
| 9. | Pamplona | 21 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 19:19 | 30 |
| 10. | Mallorca | 21 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 16:20 | 28 |
| 11. | Girona | 21 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 27:31 | 24 |
| 12. | FC Sevilla | 21 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 23:29 | 24 |
| 13. | Valladolid | 21 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 15:28 | 24 |
| 14. | Celtic vigo | 21 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 22:33 | 23 |
| 15. | Almeria | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 25:34 | 22 |
| 16. | Cadiz | 21 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 17:33 | 22 |
| 17. | Spanish Barcelona | 21 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 26:33 | 21 |
| 18. | Valencia | 21 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 26:26 | 20 |
| 19. | Getafe | 21 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 18:28 | 19 |
| 20. | Elche | 21 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 15:44 | 9 |
