Category: Sports News

Kevin De Bruyne’s stunner fired Manchester City back to the top of the Premier League after victory at Leicester.

The midfielder’s sensational freekick broke the stubborn Foxes’ resistance as City, without the injured Erling Haaland, grabbed a hard-earned 1-0 win.

Youri Tielemans hit the bar for the hosts, who made City work, but Pep Guardiola’s men moved a point clear of Arsenal, who host Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

Leicester remain 17th but will take confidence from a dogged performance which can still give them the foundations to escape trouble.

Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers wanted 17-goal Haaland to play but will have undoubtedly been happy to see the red-hot forward absent, after failing to recover from a foot injury and virus, although City dominated the first half.

Rodri’s looping header was tipped over by Danny Ward while De Bruyne scuffed wide during an efficient, but relatively quiet, opening from the visitors.

Patient, they bided their time for an opportunity and it eventually arrived after 17 minutes when De Bruyne impressively plucked a ball out the air to tee up Bernardo Silva, who was denied by Ward’s legs.

The Foxes had almost been passed into submission but gave a glimpse of their own threat when Ederson saved smartly from Harvey Barnes’ angled drive after Jamie Vardy broke.

City remained undaunted though, De Bruyne firing at Ward as normal service quickly resumed with the visitors camped inside the Leicester half.

They were so high there was always scope for the Foxes to break but, such was City’s control, they never gave the hosts a glimmer.

To their credit, Rodgers’ side remained focused, keeping their concentration as City continued to probe for the right opening without finding the space they craved.

Caglar Soyuncu, in from the cold for his first league appearance since May, helped patch up a three-man defence while Ward, following four clean sheets in five games, continued to grow in confidence.

It was an impressive effort but the hosts were almost undone 32 seconds after the restart when Rodri guided Bernardo Silva’s ball inches wide.

As it was, City only needed three more minutes to find the breakthrough and, when it came, it was stunning.

Jack Grealish was felled by Nampalys Mendy 25 yards out and De Bruyne stepped up to fire a brilliant freekick into the top corner, via the post.

Leicester looked for a swift response and almost got it when James Maddison’s corner found Tielemans on the edge of the area and the midfielder cracked a perfect first-time volley which Ederson turned onto the bar.

It was a warning for City and, since Pep Guardiola took charge in 2016, no team had scored more top fight goals against them than Leicester, with 17.

The Foxes did mount a late rally as Timothy Castagne turned Maddison’s free kick over and Ederson comfortably claimed efforts from Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho.

City hung on but only after Ruben Dias avoided an embarrassing own goal in injury time when John Stones’ clearance hit the defender and dropped wide.

Chelsea boss Graham Potter endured mocking taunts of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” as his unbeaten start was smashed by a stunning 4-1 Premier League battering at former club Brighton.

Rampant Albion raced into a commanding half-time lead, with own goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah compounding Potter’s misery following Leandro Trossard’s early opener.

Kai Havertz pulled a goal back just after the restart but the Blues were unable to prevent a first defeat in 10 games since the sacking of Thomas Tuchel as Pascal Gross rubbed salt into the wound in added time.

The remarkable result at a raucous Amex Stadium was the Seagulls’ maiden victory under new head coach Roberto De Zerbi and a first over the west London club since 1933, with the unforgiving home supporters gleefully revelling in their ex-manager’s suffering.

Potter returned to Sussex with six wins and three draws from his nine fixtures at Stamford Bridge and looking to inflict further punishment on an Albion side who began the day with just two points from a possible 15 since his departure seven weeks ago.

He received jeers – and a smattering of applause – when he stepped off the team coach, while there were further boos when he emerged from the tunnel.

Brighton fed off their fans’ hostile energy and quickly took control of the contest during a blistering start.

Chelsea captain Thiago Silva had already twice been forced to head off his own goal-line – first to deny Trossard and then Pervis Estupinan – when three sides of the ground erupted in the fifth minute.

Japan winger Kaoru Mitoma claimed the assist on his full Premier League debut, delightfully dancing into the box and offloading to in-form Trossard, who rounded goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga before emphatically dispatching his seventh goal of the season beyond former Seagulls defender Marc Cucurella.

Potter was soon looking stunned in the away dugout as Albion duly doubled their advantage with just 14 minutes on the clock.

Solly March’s inswinging corner from the right caused chaos in the Blues box and recalled midfielder Loftus-Cheek could only divert the ball into his own net via the underside of the crossbar.

The quick-fire goals produced a deafening noise inside the ground, with chants of “Potter, what’s the score?” growing louder and followed by playful questioning of his job security.

Despite their dreadful start, Chelsea were far from dejected and had numerous chances to halve the deficit as the breathless, end-to-end action continued.

Christian Pulisic somehow fired wide with the goal gaping after Robert Sanchez pushed away Conor Gallagher’s initial effort.

Spain goalkeeper Sanchez then went one better, producing a stunning one-handed diving save to turn Gallagher’s flicked header over the crossbar.

Havertz was also kept out, while Raheem Sterling was later denied a penalty when he went down under a challenge from Gross.

Any growing momentum for the visitors was extinguished three minutes before the break as Chelsea again contributed to their own downfall.

This time the sliding Chalobah did the damage, diverting the ball beyond Kepa after rampaging full-back Estupinan cut the ball back from the left.

Potter replaced keeper Kepa with Edouard Mendy for the second period due to an apparent injury but quickly had reason for greater optimism.

Midfielder Gallagher delivered an inviting cross from the right following Loftus-Cheek’s lay-off and Havertz escaped Albion’s defence to head home unmarked.

Sanchez prevented a Gross own goal as the Blues pushed for another, before Potter hooked the ineffectual Sterling and Brighton’s player of the season for 2021-22 Cucurella, with Ben Chilwell and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang introduced.

Chelsea dominated for much of the final 25 minutes but could not make further inroads on the scoreboard and were eventually sent home embarrassed after Gross tapped in on the rebound after lively substitute Julio Enciso was denied by Mendy.

Italian De Zerbi jubilantly celebrated a milestone moment with his new fans on a chastening afternoon for predecessor Potter.

Fulham were left to rue a host of missed opportunities as they played out a goalless draw against Everton at Craven Cottage.

Aleksandar Mitrovic had the best of the home side’s chances, but the Serbia striker was unable to add to his nine-goal Premier League haul for the season.

Jordan Pickford made a number of key saves to keep Fulham at bay, including from Mitrovic and Willian, as the Cottagers were left frustrated after failing to break the deadlock despite having 24 attempts on goal.

Fulham went into the game in seventh place and having scored 22 goals this season – before the weekend only Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham had found the net more times – but they drew a rare blank against manager Marco Silva’s former club.

The game started with both sides trying to gain an early advantage, Willian heading wide for Fulham while Bernd Leno had to be alert at the other end to tip a Demarai Gray header over the bar.

Pickford made two saves in a matter of minutes to keep put Willian’s shot and then a well-timed header from the home side’s leading scorer Mitrovic.

There were chances from both sides as they continued to search for the opener, Tim Ream forcing a save from Pickford before Leno had to gather a header from James Tarkowski.

Fulham had a penalty shout at the start of the second half when Willian went down after an Idrissa Gueye challenge in the area, but referee John Brooks waved play on and there was no lengthy VAR review.

Everton worked hard to break down Fulham’s attempts to open them up while committing limited numbers forward themselves, relying mainly on playing counter-attacking football and finding it difficult to escape Fulham’s offside trap.

Mitrovic had another opportunity in the 61st minute when he was picked out by Bobby Decordova-Reid at the far post. The prolific forward controlled the ball on his chest before taking a shot but the ball flew harmlessly over the crossbar.

Fulham continued to pile on the pressure but carving openings was difficult, with the Everton defenders making a number of blocks and Pickford proving an unbeatable final line of defence, including keeping out a low drive from Willian in the closing stages.

Diego Costa was sent off for a headbutt in stoppage time as Wolves battled to a 1-1 draw at Brentford.

A Ruben Neves cracker had secured a point for Wolves after Ben Mee had given the Bees the lead in west London.

But veteran striker Costa took exception to being marked by Mee in stoppage time and was shown a straight red card by referee Bobby Madley.

Madley, officiating in the Premier League for the first time since he was sacked more than four years ago for apparently mocking a disabled person, checked his pitchside monitor before giving Costa his marching orders.

It was an explosive end to a match which failed to ignite until the second half.

Ivan Toney remains eager to impress England boss Gareth Southgate ahead of the World Cup but the striker, who has scored six of Brentford’s last eight Premier League goals, passed up three decent chances in the opening period.

Toney missed his kick in front of goal after being teed up by Bryan Mbeumo and lost his footing racing on to Vitaly Janelt’s through-ball.

Mbeumo found his strike partner again late in the half but this time he trod on the ball and another opportunity went begging.

Josh Dasilva also curled a shot narrowly wide for the Bees, who lost Mathias Jensen to a calf injury after half an hour.

Wolves were also forced into a change when Matheus Nunes suffered a shoulder injury but his replacement, Joao Moutinho, immediately volleyed just off target from a corner.

Costa, passed fit despite suffering a knock in training on Wednesday, then got on the end of a Daniel Podence cross but his header flew over.

With the forwards all misfiring it was centre-back Mee who took matters into his own hands at the start of the second half when, from a short corner, he acrobatically turned in a cross from Mbeumo.

It was a spectacular goal which Toney would have been proud of, but it was cancelled out just 110 seconds later.

Nelson Semedo collected the ball from Adama Traore and squared to Neves, who crashed a superb first-time effort past David Raya from the edge of the box.

Costa had the best chances to win it for the visitors when he twice wriggled his way into shooting positions but Bees keeper Raya made two fine saves.

The Portuguese frontman’s frustration got the better of him when he shoved his head into Mee’s and was sent off following a VAR check.