Not this time, Aguero
Striker kept waiting as City maintain lead, United edge Tottenham
LONDON: Sergio Aguero was left waiting to become Manchester City’s outright all-time leading goal-scorer as his side remained five points clear at the top of the English Premier League table.
Aguero was named on the bench as City saw off West Bromwich Albion 3-2, having failed to surpass the club record of 177 goals he shares with Eric Brook during a midweek League Cup penalty shootout win over English Championship side Wolves.
There were three goals in a frantic five-minute spell at the Hawthorns yesterday.
Leroy Sane produced a stunning strike to give City a 10th-minute lead only for West Brom’s Jay Rodriguez to equalise soon afterwards.
But come the 15th minute, City were 2-1 up after Fernandinho let fly with a speculative shot that deflected off Gareth Barry and went in off the post.
City substitute Raheem Sterling gave the visitors a two-goal lead with a close-range finish in the 64th minute only for the Baggies’ to pull a goal back late on through Matt Phillips after a defensive blunder.
Second- placed Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur started the day level on points but Jose Mourinho’s men edged ahead after substitute Anthony Martial’s goal nine minutes from time gave them a 1-0 win over a Spurs side missing injured England striker Harry Kane.
“Today, every ball looked like the last ball of their careers,” said United manager Mourinho, who slammed his players’ attitude following a shock 2-1 loss to Huddersfield last week.
This was Spurs’ second defeat of the week after their League Cup loss to London rivals West Ham.
“It was unlucky that in the last 10 minutes we conceded our goal,” said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino.
“It was our mistake,” he added after his defence failed to deal with a long clearance from United goalkeeper David De Gea that Romelu Lukaku headed on to Martial.
Tottenham’s north London rivals Arsenal had to come from behind to see off struggling Swansea 2-1.
The Gunners fell behind when Sam Clucas put the visitors 1-0 up in the 22nd minute.
But Arsene Wenger’s men were back on level terms early in the second half at the Emirates when Sead Kolasinac rifled a shot past former Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski from 15 yards out.
Kolasinac then turned provider for Aaron Ramsey as the Wales midfielder made it 2-1 in the 58th minute.
“Our pace wasn’t sharp enough in the first half and we had to up the tempo,” said Wenger after his 800th Premier League game in charge of the Gunners.
Liverpool, fresh from an embarrassing 4-1 loss to Tottenham, beat Huddersfield 3-0 despite Mohamed Salah missing a first-half penalty in a match that pitted Reds manager Juergen Klopp against Terriers boss David Wagner – the best man at his wedding.
Daniel Sturridge broke the deadlock five minutes into the second half before Roberto Firmino doubled Liverpool’s lead in the 58th minute with a header.
Georginio Wijnaldum then added a third late on.
“The first half was a little bit stiff, that was clear,” said Klopp.
“We were more direct (in the second half) and now it is a nice day!”
Wilfried Zaha’s goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time saw basement club Crystal Palace come from 2-0 down to salvage a 2-2 draw with West Ham at Selhurst Park. — AFP