Man City Crush Everton, Conte Gets First PL Win
22 November, 2021
Antonio Conte got his first Premier League victory in charge of Tottenham Hotspur after they rallied from behind to beat Leeds United 2-1 on Sunday evening.
Conte brought back Harry Winks and Japhet Tanganga while Oliver Skipp and Giovani Lo Celso missed out through suspension and injury respectively.
Leeds were imposing their game on the Lilywhites, threatening going forward in the early stages but they were let down by the final pass.
Conte's charges were struggling to create chances on counter-attacks with the front trio of Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min and Lucas Moura not given space to get into the game.
Leeds' high press paid off on the stroke of half-time after Daniel James broke the deadlock with a close range finish at the back post after a cross by Jack Harrison.
The hosts were fired up coming from the half-time break, as a deflected shot by Son came off the post seven minutes from the restart before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg eventually levelled matters just before the hour-mark with a low strike after a cut-back by Moura.
Spurs had the momentum after that and Sergio Reguilon gave them a 2-1 lead in the 69th minute with a close-range shot after reacting the quickest to Eric Dier's free-kick that took a heavy deflection and came off the post.
There was a nervy moment for the Lilywhites 18 minutes before time after a strike by Joe Gelhardt hit the hand of Kane from close range but the VAR ruled against Leeds for a penalty.
Conte made a change in the last ten minutes as Ryan Sessegnon replaced Reguilon for fresh legs and the hosts were absorbing the pressure in the dying minutes and held on to leapfrog Manchester United in seventh place on the log.
Manchester City 3-0 Everton
Manchester City moved back to within touching distance of Premier Legaue leader Chelsea after defeating Everton 3-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Kevin De Bruyne missed out for Man City after testing positive for Covid-19 and was replaced by Cole Palmer, who got his first league start while Jack Grealish was also unavailable after getting injured while on duty for England.
The Citizens were struggling to get past Everton's deep lying defence in the opening exchanges, resorting to long range strikes that did not trouble goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Palmer was the first player for City to test Pickford on the half-hour mark with a left-footed strike after cutting inside and the English shot-stopper parried his effort only as far as Raheem Sterling, who spurned the rebound.
Pep Guardiola's charges had a penalty decision reversed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) five minutes later after Sterling was brought down on the 18-yard line.
However, Sterling eventually broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time with a sublime finish inside the box after after a superb pass by Joao Cancelo.
Man City enjoyed a perfect start to the second stanza as Rodri doubled their lead ten minutes from the restart after latching onto a loose ball before finding the top corner with a powerful strike.
City remained on the front foot on the hour-mark after Riyad Mahrez replaced Phil Foden and Rafael Benitez made a tactical change a few minutes later, as Salomon Rondon came on for Fabian Delph to add numbers in attack.
Sterling should have made it 3-0 for the hosts 12 minutes before time after a square pass by Mahrez found him unmarked inside the box but he was denied by Pickford, but Bernardo Silva got the third goal with a close-range finish to wrap up a comfortable win.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za
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