MANCHESTER, England — On coronation day in England, Manchester City moved closer to the Premier League title as they went four points clear at the top of the table with a 2-1 win over Leeds United.
City warmed up for their Champions League trip to Real Madrid on Tuesday with two goals from Ilkay Gundogan at the Etihad Stadium, although he missed a late penalty that would have completed his hat trick after taking the ball from Erling Haaland.
Rodrigo scored 90 seconds after Gundogan’s miss, after a mistake from Manuel Akanji, to make for a nervous final few minutes, but Sam Allardyce’s first game in charge of Leeds ended in defeat. Leeds are now only outside the relegation places on goal difference with three games to play.
Rapid reaction
1. Gundogan double keeps City winning
The treble train keeps rolling on and City are now nine points away from winning another Premier League title. Three wins from their remaining games against Everton, Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford will seal a fifth title in six years and bank the first leg of an historic Treble ahead of the FA Cup final against Manchester United on June 3 and a possible Champions League final a week later.
With Arsenal leading the way in the league for most of the campaign, there has been a surge of momentum behind City’s quest for silverware recently and victory over Leeds made it 15 wins from their past 16 games in all competitions. They haven’t lost a game — or even really been close to losing a game — since losing at Tottenham on Feb. 5.
The latest step toward the title was built on two first-half goals against Leeds from Gundogan. The German midfielder ghosted into the box twice in the space of 10 minutes to guide two well-placed finishes into each corner from Riyad Mahrez‘s passes. He made the second-most completed passes in a Premier League game (170) and controlled things from start to finish, even though his penalty miss denied him his first ever senior hat trick.
Gundogan is out of contract at the end of the season and City will let him make up his own mind about whether he wants to stay. There is interest from Barcelona and if he leaves, his experience and class on the ball will be a big miss for manager Pep Guardiola.
