EPL week 33 review: City return to the top, Utd sink to sixth

EPL Week 37 Review: Man City retain the title after battering Brighton

Week 33 of the English Premier League sees Manchester City return to the summit after beating Cardiff City at home, and Manchester United drop to sixth after comfortable wins for Chelsea and Spurs in the race for Champions League qualification.

Here’s the plan.

EPL Wk 33 Review: City return to the top, Utd sink to sixthA Liverpool scout will infiltrate The Etihad, kidnap the Kit Man, create a fake face using a 3D-printer, and then hand it to Liverpool’s equivalent.

The fake Kit Man will order cacti from the local succulent store, remove the needles, and place them in the football boots of the entire Manchester City squad. Then, and only then, do Liverpool have any chance of winning the English Premier League (EPL).

Pep Guardiola’s side breezed past relegation-threatened Cardiff City in front of their home fans, winning two-nil, to move a point clear of Liverpool at the top of the league, with a +9 superior goal difference.

It’s the Citizens eighth successive EPL win, and you don’t see them losing another with six games to go. The City players are like silk sheets; they are Latin; they are the hot coals in a fireplace.

Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling sat this one out, but City still pummelled the Cardiff City defence like a Gatling Gun in the first ten minutes before Kevin De Bruyne latched onto an Aymeric Laporte through ball before finishing from an acute angle. It was the Belgian’s first goal since the end of December.

Gabriel Jesus could have added a few more before the break, but a combination of Neil Etheridge and lousy decision making ensured the Brazilian would finish the game without a goal.

Not so, Leroy Sané, who put the game beyond doubt a minute before half time, when he rifled the ball home after excellent work from Riyad Mahrez and Jesus.

Here are the City’s remaining EPL fixtures.

Crystal Palace (A) 14 April
Spurs (H) 20 April
Man Utd (A) 24 April
Burnley (A) 28 April
Leicester (H) 4 May
Brighton (A) 12 May

It’s a congested looking April, with City playing twice a week throughout thanks to their quadruple hunt. If anyone can win all four trophies, it’s this bunch of stars.

Neil Warnock was never expecting anything from this tie, but he will demand nothing more than three points when his side face Burnley at Turfmoor when they next take to the field in an EPL tie.

Here are their remaining six fixtures:

Burnley (A) 13 April
Brighton (A) 16 April
Liverpool (H) 21 April
Fulham (A) 27 April
Crystal Palace (H) 4 May
Man Utd (A) 12 May

Champions League Qualification Update

Manchester United drop to sixth position, two points removed from the Champions League finishing line, after Chelsea and Spurs beat Brighton and Crystal Palace, respectively.

Spurs move into third spot, after beating Palace by two goals to nil. It was the first time Spurs had played a competitive match at their new £1 billion stadia, and they looked as much at home as a set of dinosaur bones in a museum, after Son Heung-min, and Christian Eriksen sealed the win.

Chelsea moves into fifth after a three-nil win over Brighton. Olivier Giroud opened the scoring in the first half, and second half strikes from Eden Hazard and Ruben Loftus-Cheek eased the pressure on the under-fire manager Maurizio Sarri in a comfortable victory.

EPL Wk 33 Results

Wolves 2 v 1 Man Utd
Watford 4 v 1 Fulham
Chelsea 3 v 0 Brighton
Spurs 2 v 0 Crystal Palace
Man City 2 v 0 Cardiff

EPL Standings

1. Man City – 80
2. Liverpool – 79
3. Spurs – 64
4. Arsenal – 63
5. Chelsea – 63
6. Man Utd – 61
7. Wolves – 47
8. Watford – 46
9. Leicester – 44
10. Everton – 43
11. West Ham – 42
12. Bournemouth – 38
13. Crystal Palace – 36
14. Newcastle – 35
15. Brighton – 33
16. Southampton – 33
17. Burnley – 33
18. Cardiff – 28
19. Fulham – 17 (R)
20. Huddersfield – 14 (R)

EPL Odds

To Win

Man City – 4/9
Liverpool – 7/4

Relegation

Cardiff 1/8
Burnley 8/1

Top Four

Spurs 4/11
Arsenal 4/9
Chelsea 11/8
Man Utd 3/1

Top Goalscorer

Sergio Aguero 11/8
Harry Kane 7/2
Mohamed Salah 7/2
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 6/1

Current Top Scorers

1. Sergio Aguero – 19
2. Mohamed Salah – 17
3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 17
4. Harry Kane – 17
5. Sadio Mane – 17

Next Manager to Leave

Maurizzio Sarri 6/5
No Manager to Leave 6/4
Neil Warnock 6/1
Marco Silva 11/1