LONDON: Manchester City slumped to a scarcely credible eighth defeat in 11 games on Sunday — this time against Manchester United — leaving Pep Guardiola flummoxed but handing Ruben Amorim a huge boost.
With the spotlight off them, Chelsea moved just two points behind long-time Premier League leaders Liverpool, with a 2-1 win against Brentford.
Wolves sacked Gary O’Neil after a fourth straight defeat while Southampton axed Russell Martin following a 5-0 hammering by Tottenham.
AFP Sport looks at three talking points from the Premier League weekend.
It is difficult to argue that City are now experiencing a full-blown crisis.
Guardiola signed a new two-year contract last month at a point when City had lost four in a row, saying he did not feel he could leave the club at a difficult time.
Now he is facing questions as to how — and when — he can stop the rot after a painful 2-1 defeat to United, who had won just one of their first four league games under Amorim.
Guardiola provided a harsh self-assessment after the defeat, which came courtesy of a Bruno Fernandes penalty in the 88th minute and an Amad Diallo winner two minutes later.
“I’m the manager and I’m not good enough, simple as that,” he said.
Midfielder Bernardo Silva was even harsher, comparing City’s collapse in the final minutes to an under-15s team.
City have matches coming up that look winnable on paper — against Aston Villa, Everton and Leicester — but with every defeat the scale of Guardiola’s task looks more daunting.
Earlier this month Liverpool had a nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League — now it is down to just two.
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea have won their past five games to close the gap on the Reds, who still have a match in hand.
Liverpool showed impressive strength of character to twice come from behind for a 2-2 draw against Fulham on Saturday despite playing the bulk of the game with 10 men.
But their momentum has slowed, with the Fulham result following a 3-3 draw last week against Newcastle.
Free-scoring Chelsea have taken full advantage, climbing above London rivals Arsenal, runners-up in the past two campaigns, to stake their claim as Liverpool’s main challengers.
The Blues finished last season strongly under former manager Mauricio Pochettino but few expected Maresca to master his brief so quickly.
The Chelsea boss is eager to say they are not in the title race but the table suggests otherwise.
Gary O’Neil and Russell Martin paid the price for their clubs’ Premier League struggles.
Martin’s sacking was announced shortly after a sobering defeat to Spurs, who scored all five goals at St. Mary’s in the first half on Sunday.
Wolves suffered a damaging 2-1 loss to relegation rivals Ipswich at Molineux on Saturday, after which O’Neil said he was struggling to help his team cope with the “real basic stuff.”
Wolves, second from bottom of the table, are five points from safety.
But their plight is not as perilous as that of Southampton, who are staring at an immediate return to the Championship.
Martin departs having taken just five points from 16 games, leaving Southampton nine points adrift of safety.
Three talking points from the Premier League
https://arab.news/rmxnz
Three talking points from the Premier League
- Wolves sacked Gary O’Neil after a fourth straight defeat
Dembélé stars as PSG crushes bitter rival Marseille 5-0 to regain top spot in Ligue 1
- The win restored defending champion PSG’s two-point lead over Lens after 21 rounds, with Marseille in fourth place behind Lyon after the humiliating defeat
PARIS: Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé starred with two goals and an assist as Paris Saint-Germain crushed bitter rival Marseille 5-0 to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
The win restored defending champion PSG’s two-point lead over Lens after 21 rounds, with Marseille in fourth place behind Lyon after the humiliating defeat.
“We wanted to send a message that we’re back,” Dembélé said after PSG’s biggest winning margin against Marseille.
“It was almost perfect,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “It’s an important day for our fans because we made history, 5-0 never happened before.”
Despite PSG’s attacking flair, Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi’s choices will be scrutinized following a truly dismal performance from his side lacking composure and fight. Marseille was eliminated from the Champions League following a 3-0 defeat against Club Brugge less than two weeks ago.
“Once again, I say sorry to the fans,” De Zerbi said. “I’m not in the players’ heads. I thought we had prepared well for this game but clearly not. We need to understand why we played this way in Bruges and here.”
Top scorer Mason Greenwood, fellow forward Amine Gouiri and new signing Ethan Nwaneri were anonymous in attack, with veteran Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench.
De Zerbi dropped goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli after a couple of poor performances and replaced him with Jeffrey de Lange, who was out of sorts, albeit not helped by his defense.
De Lange was easily beaten when Dembélé side-footed in a cross from left back Nuno Mendes in the 12th minute following a quick break launched by Désiré Doué.
However, PSG could have been down to 10 players before then. Midfielder Vitinha caught defender Leonardo Balerdi’s ankle with a late tackle but escaped with a yellow card.
Having denied Bradley Barcola with a fine low save, De Lange was beaten again in the 37th when Dembélé profited from a glaring error from Balerdi.
He let the ball through his legs on PSG’s right flank, allowing Dembélé to attack the penalty area, dribble past him and find the roof of the net.
“We can’t accept this, we don’t come here to play like this,” said Balerdi, who did not mention his own performance. “We were not good enough and you could see it. Against such a team you pay for it.”
Marseille’s weak defense cracked in 10 second-half minutes, with Facundo Medina scoring an own-goal over the head of De Lange, and Dembélé setting up Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for a clinical volley before Lee Kang-in slotted home the fifth.
Marseille’s 1-0 win over PSG in September will seem like a distant memory.
Fans closely watched
PSG fans were in the spotlight after last season’s match at Parc des Princes was marred by homophobic and racist chanting, with a warning to “stop discriminatory chants” posted on the giant screen.
There were brief discriminatory chants about Marseille at the start of the game and referee Willy Delajod stopped play for about one minute around the 70th, at which point a message was posted on the big screen.
Köhn gets away with blunder
Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Köhn got away with a blunder in a 0-0 draw at Nice in the French Riviera derby.
Köhn stopped the ball going out for a corner but slid and mis-kicked it to attacking midfielder Sofiane Diop on the edge of the penalty area in the 72nd minute. Diop’s curling shot was going in until defender Thilo Kehrer acrobatically heeled the ball away.
Folarin Balogun hit the crossbar for Monaco in the third minute.
Other matches
Veteran striker Ciro Immobile drew a blank on his league debut for Paris FC in a 0-0 draw at Auxerre.
During the 2019-20 season he finished as the “Capocannoniere” (top scorer) in the Italian league with 36 goals for Lazio and has scored 304 goals overall at club level.
Immobile played forward Jonathan Ikoné clean through during the second half, but Ikoné’s shot was saved.
Angers moved up to ninth after beating Toulouse 1-0 thanks to a brilliant lob from defender Lilian Raolisoa from nearly 40 meters out in the 89th.
Le Havre moved up to 13th after winning 2-1 at home to Strasbourg.
Lens beat Rennes 3-1 on Saturday.
