Manchester City racked up a 17th consecutive Premier League victory after Sergio Aguero’s 100th and 101st Etihad Stadium goals inspired a 4-0 win over Bournemouth yesterday. Aguero scored twice and set up Raheem Sterling as Pep Guardiola’s side made it 18 wins and one draw in the first half of the season.
City are 13 points clear of second placed Manchester United, who lost more ground on the leaders after conceding a last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw at 10-man Leicester.
Harry Kane equalled the record for Premier League goals in a calendar year with a hat-trick in a 3-0 win at Burnley that lifted Tottenham Hotspur to fifth place, while third-place Chelsea drew 0-0 at Everton.
Hailing Aguero, Guardiola said: “He is a special player, a legend, and I am so happy when he plays good and he is scoring goals.”
City are now two wins off the record for consecutive victories in Europe’s top five leagues, which was set by Guardiola’s Bayern Munich in 2013-14. They have already become the first team to score 100 goals in the English top flight in a single year since Liverpool in 1982.
City took a 27th-minute lead when Aguero met Fernandinho’s cross with a diving header to bring up a century of goals in front of City’s fans since his 2011 move from Atletico Madrid. The Argentina striker’s dinked pass set up Sterling to smash home City’s second goal — and his 16th of the season — in the 53rd minute before Aguero headed in his second.
City substitute Danilo completed the scoring late on, rubber-stamping a victory that sent Bournemouth into the relegation zone.
Tottenham bounced back from their 4-1 loss at City to win at Burnley, who drop one place to seventh. Kane opened the scoring with a seventh-minute penalty at Turf Moor after Kevin Long was adjudged to have fouled Dele Alli and added two clean strikes in the second half.
He has now scored 36 league goals in 2017, equalling Alan Shearer’s Premier League-era record, with a home game against Southampton on Tuesday still to come.
“I am aware I’ve equalled Alan Shearer’s record,” Kane told BT Sport. “Just going into this game, I thought I can get a couple and then there’s Southampton to play.”
Everton continued their improvement under new manager Sam Allardyce by extending their unbeaten run to six league games with a dogged 0-0 draw at home to champions Chelsea.
“I think this result is unfair,” said Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte. “Everton deserve credit, but we deserved to win.”
RESULTS
Everton 0 – 0 Chelsea
Brighton 1 – 0 Watford
Man City 4 – 0 Bournemouth
Southampton 1 – 1 Huddersfield
Stoke City 3 – 1 West Brom
Swansea 1 – 1 Crystal Palace
West Ham 2 – 3 Newcastle
Burnley 0 – 3 Tottenham
Leicester 2 – 2 Man United
Real Madrid 0 – 3 Barcelona
Valencia 0 – 1 Villarreal
Deportivo 1 – 3 Celta Vigo
