Manchester City beat bottom-placed Sheffield United 2-0 on Saturday and moved up to third place between Aston Villa, winner at the last minute over Burnley (3-2), and Arsenal, who travel to Fulham on Sunday with the hope of get back on the podium.
Rodri (14th) and Julian Alvarez (61st) allowed the Citizens to dominate promoted Sheffield to take third place with 40 points, as many as the current fourth Arsenal. Leader Liverpool, host Newcastle on Monday, and second-placed Aston Villa remain two points ahead of the three-time title holders.
But Pep Guardiola’s team has a match in hand to play against Brentford, a meeting postponed to allow them to play in the Club World Cup, which they won last week. City have won two consecutive matches in the league for the first time since the beginning of November with, as a bonus, the return to the group of their playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, absent through injury since August 11.
Aston Villa, for their part, returned to victory against Burnley (3-2), in pain, Douglas Luiz’s saving goal only coming in the 89th minute from the penalty spot. The Villans led 2-1 thanks to Moussa Diaby’s first goal since the end of October, but they were caught in the 71st minute even though they were playing in numerical superiority.
The Birmingham club are regaining momentum after conceding, before and after Christmas, a 1-1 draw against Sheffield and a 3-2 defeat against Manchester United. In its misfortune, Burnley (19th, 11 points) took advantage of the defeats of its direct competitors to maintain its position: Luton (18th, 15 pts) lost against Chelsea (3-2) and Everton (17th, 16 pts), first not relegated, sank 3-0 at Wolverhampton.
The Everton “Toffees” are experiencing a third defeat in a row, a bad series which comes after five victories in six matches. Crystal Palace, thirteenth (21 pts), pushed back the red zone by dominating Brentford (15th, 19 pts). This first victory (3-1) in almost two months was achieved thanks to a double from Michael Olise. The 22-year-old French winger, who returned from injury in early November, has scored four goals in the last four matches.
