Cityzens keep Blues at bay with 2-1 win

London, November 24

Manchester City kept Premier League leaders Liverpool in their sights after battling back to beat Chelsea 2-1 and ending the Londoners’ run of six straight victories on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium.

Leicester saw off Brighton 2-0 to stay in second place, eight points behind Jurgen Klopp’s men, while struggling Arsenal needed a stoppage-time goal to draw 2-2 with lowly Southampton. Liverpool’s hard-fought 2-1 win at Crystal Palace meant defending champions City went into their evening match against high-flying Chelsea 12 points behind the pacesetters.

N’Golo Kante gave the visitors a deserved lead midway through the first half but City hit back with a deflected shot from Kevin De Bruyne and a trademark Riyad Mahrez strike to win 2-1. City’s possession figure of 46.74 percent is the lowest recorded by a side managed by Pep Guardiola in any of his 381 top-flight matches in charge.

Inter on Juve’s coattails

Milan: Inter Milan earned their first win in three years over Torino despite difficult conditions with the game starting 10 minutes late because of heavy rainfall in northern Italy on Saturday. The comfortable 3-0 win kept them in touch with the leaders Juventus who had left it late to seal the victory in Bergamo on Saturday.

Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring, before Stefan de Vrij volleyed in a Cristiano Biraghi cross. Romelu Lukaku hit his 10th league goal of the campaign in the 55th minutes.

Bayern demolish Duesseldorf

Berlin: Bayern Munich crushed hosts Fortuna Duesseldorf 4-0 on Saturday to climb to within a point of the top with their third straight win under interim coach Hansi Flick while Bundesliga leaders Borussia Moenchengladbach suffered a shock loss at Union Berlin.

Champions Bayern found no resistance in the first half and had fired in three goals by the 34th minute through Benjamin Pavard, Corentin Tolisso and Serge Gnabry. — Agencies