EPL Week 17: City and Liverpool step on banana skins without slipping

Week 17 of the English Premier League sees Liverpool remain at the top of the table after beating Man Utd, and Man City maintain maximum pressure with a victory over Everton.

Man City 3 v 1 Everton

Do fish cry?

What’s a spleen?

I don’t have the answer for you. But when it came to how Man City would react to the first league loss of the season, there was no spinning the wheel about it.

Outside of the Big Whateverisitthesedays a straight up fist fight against Everton, home or away, is a potential banana skin, so Pep Guardiola will be delighted to emerge from it with three points in the fruit bowl.

Everton could have taken the lead after a Lucas Digne cross landed onto the boot of Richarlison arriving into the box like a shotgun shell only for the ball to end up smacking the moon’s bum.

Then City had their first chance after a lob from the left from Ilkay Gündogan clipped the heels of an Everton defender, sending Jordan Pickford sprawling to his left to tip the ball wide of the post.

As you were.

Then came the break on 22-minutes and it came from an unfamiliar source.

Before trotting out for this one, Gabriel Jesus had not scored in 11-games, but it was the Brazilian who got on the end of a Leroy Sané through ball to open the scoring with a neat finish.

Five minutes after the restart, and Jesus was at it again. Once again, Sané was the provider with an excellent cross from a left, and the Brazilian headed home from the penalty spot.

“My confidence is back because my family is here,” said the 21-year-young star after the game, alluding to the fact that his mummy has moved in with him.

Everton made a fist of things in the 65th minute when Digne found Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the box, and the youngster’s header found its way into the back of the City net off the shoulder of Fabian Delph.

But City snuffed out any thought of an Everton comeback immediately when Ferdandinho dinked the ball into the box, and Raheem Sterling arrived on cue to score his ninth league goal of the season.

The win was City’s tenth home win on the trot, and they’ve only lost once in the league since the start of last season, and delight would have hit the faces of City fans seeing Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Agüreo sitting on the bench.

Liverpool 3 v 1 Man Utd

That win put City into the top spot for 24-hours, with Liverpool taking on their arch-rivals Man Utd in the Sunday afternoon kickoff.

And 24-hours is all they held it for.

Liverpool v Man Utd has arguably been THE Premier League tie of the past decade, but with United a full 19-points behind the men from Merseyside there was only one look to this match, and that was a Liverpool win.

The first chance came the way of Liverpool when David De Gea had to deal with a long-range effort from Roberto Firmino, but the opening salvo still came from Liverpool when in the 24th minute, Fabinho put in a deft chip that floated over the United backline, landed onto the chest of Sadio Mané who then volleyed the ball home.

Dejan Lovren should have made it two when he skied it over the bar from six yards, and an uncharacteristic blunder by Allison allowed United to equalise ten minutes before the break. Romelu Lukaku fired in a cross from the left, and the Brazilain keeper spilt it, allowing Jesse Lingard to finish the rebound.

But this wasn’t a United team about to go for the jugular. Mourinho set his team up to frustrate, and that’s what they did until Xherdan Shaqiri came on with 20-minutes remaining and changed everything.

The Swiss international had only been on the pitch for two minutes when he found the back of the net via the heel of Ashley Young, and seven minutes later he ended the game after his second deflected shot, this time off Eric Bailly, also ended up in the net.

Liverpool moves into the top spot.

Jose Mourinho, who left Paul Pogba on the bench, preferring to bring Marouane Fellaini on to save the day, remain sixth thanks to Everton’s defeat against City.

Here are the rest of the weekend’s results:

Results in Full

Man City 3 v 1 Everton
Crystal Palace 1 v 0 Leicester
Wolves 2 v 0 Bournemouth
Huddersfield 0 v 1 Newcastle
Spurs 1 v 0 Burnley
Watford 3 v 2 Cardiff
Fulham 0 v 2 West Ham
Southampton 3 v 2 Arsenal
Brighton 1 v 2 Chelsea
Liverpool 3 v 1 Man Utd

Premier League Table

1. Liverpool – 45 points
2. Man City – 44
3. Spurs – 39
4. Chelsea – 37
5. Arsenal – 34
6. Man Utd – 26
7. Wolves – 25
8. Everton – 24
9. West Ham – 24
10. Watford – 24
11. Bournemouth – 23
12. Leicester – 22
13. Brighton – 21
14. Newcastle – 16
15. Crystal Palace – 15
16. Cardiff – 14
17. Southampton – 12
18. Burnley – 12
19. Huddersfield – 10
20. Fulham – 9