Dallas double shocks Man City
Pep and Co. suffer fourth defeat of English Premier League season at Etihad
Manchester, April 10: Manchester City suffered just a fourth Premier League defeat of the season as 10-man Leeds United shocked the runaway leaders thanks to Stuart Dallas’s double in a 2-1 win at the Etihad on Saturday.
Dallas opened the scoring three minutes before half-time, but hope of a famous win for Marcelo Bielsa’s men seemed to have disappeared when captain Liam Cooper was shown a straight red card in first-half stoppage time.
The visitors withstood a City bombardment until Ferran Torres equalised 14 minutes from time.
But Leeds still summoned the energy to pose a threat on the counterattack and gained their reward when Dallas slotted below Ederson.
Bielsa’s first win in five meetings against Pep Guardiola propels Leeds to ninth in their first season back in the English top flight for 16 years.
Guardiola paid for heavily rotating his side with Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final, second leg, against Borussia Dortmund clearly his priority. City still enjoy a 14-point lead at the top of the Premier League and need just 11 points from their remaining six matches to guarantee a third title in four years. But Manchester United could close the gap to eight points should the Red Devils win their two games in hand, the first of which is away to Tottenham on Sunday.
A two-minute silence was held before kick-off in honour of Prince Philip, who died aged 99 on Friday.
Once the action got underway, City noticeably missed Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden and Ruben Dias, who were among the stars left on the bench by Guardiola.
Raheem Sterling’s presence in what was largely a second string side is a reflection of how the England international has fallen down the pecking order in the past few weeks.
Sterling did not even get on as a substitute in the first leg against Dortmund and did little to further his case for selection in midweek by slicing a great chance wide from Fernandinho’s cut-back.
Leeds had wasted a number of promising attacks with their final ball, but found the finishing touch on 43 minutes.
Patrick Bamford teed up Dallas to strike low in off the inside the post.
The visitors’ joy was short-lived. Just four minutes later they were a man down.