Foden and Bernardo strike as Man City beat Newcastle to cut Arsenal lead
A goal in each half from the in-form Phil Foden and substitute Bernardo Silva means the gap at the top-flight summit is back down to two points at least for a few hours, with leaders Arsenal hosting lowly Bournemouth in a 3pm game at Emirates Stadium.
Meanwhile, Newcastle’s poor run of form continues, with the losing Carabao Cup finalists still without a League win since January 15 as their Champions League ambitions take a hit. They certainly had their moments here, however.
Despite a slightly sloppy start, City dominated most of the first half at the Etihad, monopolising possession and having an early chance as captain Ilkay Gundogan headed Jack Grealish’s cross onto the roof of the net inside 60 seconds.
They were ahead after only 15 minutes, with Foden taking in Rodri’s sweeping pass before driving brilliantly into the box and beating four defenders before seeing his effort deflect past Nick Pope off defender Sven Botman.
It was Foden’s fourth goal in three games after a midweek double in the FA Cup and his 13th of the season already across all competitions. He is now only one shy of his tally for the whole of last term.
Newcastle almost hit back straightaway through Sean Longstaff, but his attempt was brilliantly blocked by Nathan Ake.
Erling Haaland nodded wide De Bruyne’s trademark pinpoint centre as City looked to double their advantage before the break, though the visitors spurned another key chance when Callum Wilson miskicked after Kieran Trippier had headed Longstaff’s diagonal pass across the box.
The second half began as a very-low key affair, with Grealish denied a penalty after being felled by Trippier and Joelinton going in late on Rodri to incur his 10th yellow card of the season and a two-match suspension.
However, a triple change to introduce Alexander Isak, Allan Saint-Maximin and Joe Willock appeared to revitalise Newcastle, with the latter providing a great ball that Joelinton could not convert.
Isak’s movement was causing City plenty of problems until they struck the clinching goal against the run of play, Ake winning the ball high up the pitch and Grealish driving before substitute Bernardo took one touch and picked out the bottom corner after a neat touch around the corner from Haaland.
The Portuguese had only been on the pitch for two minutes and 12 seconds after replacing Kevin De Bruyne, but reacted wonderfully to put the game beyond reach and ask more questions of Arsenal in fierce title battle.
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