Manchester Football

A website about football in Manchester

Premier League

Matt Ritchie’s strike condemns Manchester United to defeat after Chris Smalling’s foolish dive at Newcastle dents the Reds title hopes

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NEWCASTLE UNITED 1, MANCHESTER UNITED 0

Matt Ritchie scored the only goal in a contest that might have terminally ended Manchester United’s title challenge for this season as Newcastle United beat the Reds 1-0 to win their first home game in the Premier League since October 21.

By Jose Mourinho’s own admission, Newcastle “fought like animals” to outperform the Reds and earn a vital three points which dragged them out of the relegation zone.

Mourinho still hasn’t won at St James’ Park in the Premier League and defeat leaves Manchester United 16 points behind City with 11 games to go and with an increasing prospect of playing for the title at the Etihad in the Manchester Derby on April 7 depending on results.

Huddersfield Town kick off the Year of the Dog with rousing victory over Bournemouth

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HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 4, BOURNEMOUTH 1

A first Huddersfield Town goal for Alex Pritchard, a double by Steve Mounie, and a Rajiv van La Parra penalty meant that the Terriers could celebrate a first Premier League win in nine matches as they kickstarted their survival mission with a huge morale boosting victory over Bournemouth.

The bad news, though, is Town may have to do without Aaron Mooy for a period after he went off on a stretcher after jarring his left knee towards the end of the game.

The Terriers got back on the scoresheet for the first time in the Premier League since mid January in their home defeat to West Ham having failed to score in a total of 14 of 26 previous league games this season.

A poor run since December had led to the Terriers slipping into the bottom three with relegation a serious threat but victory temporarily moved them back up to 16th.

Four-goal Sergio Aguero in one man wrecking mission for Manchester City against Leicester City

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MAN CITY 5, LEICESTER CITY 1

It was hard to find suitable superlatives to describe Sergio Aguero’s one-man demolition of Leicester City.

The Manchester City scored four of the goals as he continues to set records.

Aguero, who has 28 goals for the season, became only the fourth player to score 20 times in the Premier League in four successive seasons matching Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry and Harry Kane.

His total of 21 Premier League goals also drew level with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah with only Harry Kane ahead of them this season with 23.

Manchester United beat Huddersfield Town on day Reds mark 60th anniversary of Munich air disaster

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MAN UNITED 2, HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 0

An emotionally charged afternoon in which Manchester United marked the 60th anniversary of the Munich air disaster was followed by a Reds’ victory against Huddersfield Town at Old Trafford.

It wasn’t pretty on the eye, but United did enough to find a way past the battling Terriers through second-half goals from Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez on his home debut.

And with leaders Manchester City surprisingly held at Burnley, United cut City’s lead from 16 to 13 points.

It was a satisfactory performance from United – nothing more than that – as they bounced back from the midweek defeat at Tottenham.

And Reds’ goalkeeper David De Gea, making his 300th appearance for the Reds, could not have had an easier ride as he didn’t have a shot to save.

Raheem Sterling misses open goal as Burnley check Manchester City’s title charge with draw at Turf Moor

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BURNLEY 1, MANCHESTER CITY 1

Manchester City’s recent inability to put opponents to the sword quickly and early finally came back to bite them after Burnley chose to be brave and tried to attack their visitors during their visit to a wintry Turf Moor and were rewarded for their efforts.

Raheem Sterling may have complained about recent tackling before this game but the Burnley players didn’t give the referee much cause for concern with their tough tackling as they played a part in cancelling out Danilo’s early goal with a late equaliser by Johann Berg Gudmundsson to earn themselves a point against the league leaders.

The point allowed City to go 16 points ahead of nearest rivals Manchester United ahead of their game against Huddersfield Town.