With a 3-0 victory over Everton on Sunday, Manchester City’s seemingly unstoppable march towards the Premier League championship continued.
Pep Guardiola’s team only needs one more victory to win the championship for the third consecutive year after Arsenal’s loss to Brighton by the same score later in the day.
Erling Haaland scored his 52nd goal of the season and two goals from Ilkay Gundogan to give City the victory at Goodison Park and extend their unbeaten streak to 21 games overall.
It was the league’s reigning champions’ 11th successive victory, overtaking longtime leader Arsenal at the top of the standings and putting Guardiola within striking distance of a fifth championship in as many years.
Every time we win, we get a little bit closer, but the games against Chelsea (May 21) and Brighton (May 24) will be difficult, according to Guardiola. We now know that two victories in the previous three games will be sufficient.
In reality, since Arsenal eventually allowed goals from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav, and Pervis Estupinan in the second half at Emirates Stadium, just one victory is now required in order for City to win the Premier League title.
A victory over Chelsea would clinch the championship.
Everton’s loss places the Merseyside club, which has spent 69 years in the top division, only one point above the relegation zone and in a desperate battle for survival.
With two games remaining, Everton would fall into the bottom three if Leicester defeated Liverpool on Monday.
Sean Dyche, manager of Everton, stated that getting the game finished was more important than beating Manchester City.
Even after its unexpected 5-1 victory over Brighton on Monday, few anticipated Everton to upset City on Tuesday.
And even though they managed to contain the guests for a significant portion of the first half, the game was practically over just two minutes before the interval.
In the 37th minute, Gundogan gave City the lead with an improvised goal that appeared out of nowhere.
The right-handed Riyad Mahrez cross was collected by the Germany international with one touch while he had his back to goal. He then flicked a shot over his shoulder and past Everton keeper Jordan Pickford.
Two minutes later, City extended its advantage thanks to a second goal from Haaland, who was this time assisted by Gundogan, who crossed for him.
The Norwegian striker had only touched the ball three times in the game up until that moment.
After the break, Gundogan added a second goal to his impressive season with a curling free kick from the edge of the box.
Gundogan has been a crucial component of City’s three-pronged trophy campaign of the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup, even though Haaland has received the majority of the attention this season for his goal-scoring exploits and was voted Footballer of the Year on Friday.
After scoring twice against Leeds the previous week, Gundogan added two goals at Goodison to bring his season tally to nine goals in all competitions.
When his contract ends in the summer, he is widely anticipated to leave, and a move to Barcelona has received significant media attention.
Guardiola would then need to fill a gap in his midfield since one prospective replacement, Jude Bellingham, is allegedly close to joining Real Madrid.
The focus of City will now shift to Madrid, as the two teams will square off on Wednesday in the second leg of the Champions League semifinals.
Guardiola was concerned about the impact the Eurovision Song Contest might have on his preparations for that match, which was delicately tied at 1-1 following the first game in Madrid.
He said that the staging of Eurovision in Liverpool on Saturday had made it impossible for the Everton game to be played a day sooner to provide his players extra recuperation time.
It didn’t really matter in the end because City won easily, but it is still unclear how it will affect their performance against Real Madrid.
