Ilkay Gundogan scored a brace to help Man City produce one of the narrow football results of the weekend in the Premier League. As the champions increased the pressure on title rivals Arsenal ahead of their Super Sunday trip to Newcastle, Gundogan scored twice in the first 27 minutes at the Etihad Stadium to all but end any prospect of Leeds having a new manager bounce under Allardyce. Prior to Gundogan’s penalty, which he took in front of record-breaking scorer Erling Haaland, hitting the post and Leeds’ goal through Rodrigo 58 seconds later, City was cruising to an easy victory. The late drama left Pep Guardiola furious and gave rise to hope that Allardyce might just be able to lead Leeds, who are still outside the relegation zone on goal differential, to safety before the season is up. City would go on to win the league for the tenth time in a row.
Illan Meslier was benched by Allardyce for the first time this season in a Premier League match due to his poor play, but Joel Robles, who took Meslier’s place, faced frequent criticism from City’s dominating first-half offensive. After Robles stopped Haaland from scoring his 36th league goal of the season and Julian Alvarez missed a golden opportunity, City eventually made their dominance count as Gundogan slammed the ball home at the near post off of a cutback from Riyad Mahrez. After a beautiful lay-off from Kevin De Bruyne, Haaland started out on the wrong foot in front of goal. However, City’s second goal, which was almost an exact replica of their first, would come shortly after.
Gundogan scored his sixth goal of the year after the mercurial Mahrez cut inside and sent the ball inside for his and City’s second into the other corner of the Leeds goal. Just before the half-hour mark, Weston McKennie’s header from a corner was palmed away by the City custodian, preventing Leeds from responding right away. Then, unusually losing his feet, Haaland missed an opportunity to make it three for the hosts. After the half, Haaland’s struggles continued as he sent a close-range header crashing into the woodwork moments after the game resumed and then the Norwegian’s swiveling effort just after the hour mark went just wide of the post.
After Phil Foden was fouled by Pascal Struijk in the area, Haaland would contradict his manager Guardiola’s desires by giving Gundogan the chance to record a first-career hat-trick from the spot. Gundogan missed the penalty kick, and his error was made worse less than a minute later when substitute Rodrigo scored an improbable comeback for Leeds with a goal at the near post. Nevertheless, City held on for the victory they earned in the final minutes.
“We play a fantastic game. We should have started the game with more precision, but we’ve already played three games in six days. The players play some fantastic football in the first half after the Arsenal game, under a lot of mental stress,” Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said. “In the Premier League, with one goal in it, it’s never over. We had an opportunity with the penalty, but we miss it, making the score 2-1. I’ve always believed that the primary taker must take the penalty when the score is 2-0. But Erling is a person who is like that. The leading scorer, who has several goals, passes it to a teammate so that they may each score three goals. I comprehend. A hat trick is excellent to achieve. Ilkay is a skilled penalty taker; if he converts, everyone will be pleased. We didn’t lose ground. It serves as a useful lesson for the future.”
“We base part of our optimism for today on how the second half played. The second, not the first. Now, we must expand on it and work to get results,” Leeds boss Sam Allardyce said. “I was a little scared, but we dealt with it and warned them they were playing too afraid in the second half. They needed to take the initiative and make an effort to confront them. You know you gave yourself a chance when Man City runs the time down for four minutes in the end. We persevered all the way to the finish, but it didn’t quite work out.”
For more football results, click here
