Man City’s title hopes hit by Lukaku and Everton teens

London, January 15 

Manchester City’s Premier League title hopes were delivered a grievous blow on Sunday as Everton’s inspired Romelu Lukaku and teenagers Tom Davies and Ademola Lookman made it another crushing afternoon for Pep Guardiola.

The Spaniard suffered his biggest-ever defeat in league football after City had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and chances but paid for sloppy defending that led to the Belgian powerhouse Lukaku converting his 12th league goal of the season after 34 minutes. Kevin Mirallas struck right after the break and excellent 18-year-old academy graduate Davies dinked a brilliant first goal for his boyhood club as City looked increasingly clueless. 

Substitute Lookman, making his debut at 19, then completed the rout with his first touch in stoppage time, a goal that stemmed from a mistake from Everton old boy John Stones, as City suffered a fourth league defeat in their last eight league matches.

Coming hot on the heels of their last loss in Merseyside at Liverpool on New Year’s Eve, City were left in fifth place, now 10 points adrift of leaders Chelsea, as Guardiola cut a forlorn figure on the bench. 

“The game is an example of many that has happened this season. It is football. In football you sometimes don’t need to do many things to score. They arrive once and score a goal,” Guardiola said.

“It is not today, it is almost all the season — and it is tough for the players to handle that situation. Of course we can do better. It is awful for my players,” he added. 

United’s Ibrahimovic rescues draw vs Liverpool

Zlatan Ibrahimovic delivered his most important goal yet for Manchester United as he sent Old Trafford wild with his 19th of the season in all competitions to salvage a 1-1 draw with their fiercest rivals Liverpool on Sunday.

James Milner, so often a scourge of United, had silenced the home crowd with a 27th minute penalty as Liverpool seemed to be coasting with relative comfort to a crucial Premier League win until the irrepressible Swede struck with an 84th minute header. The draw put Liverpool into third spot, alongside second-placed Tottenham on 45 points, but left Chelsea seven points ahead of the pack. — Reuters