Manchester City beat Bournemouth to move five points clear

Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-02 06:11:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan
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LONDON, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Manchester City moved five points clear of the chasing pack of the English Premier League with a hard-fought 3-1 home win over Bournemouth on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola's side has maintained their 100 percent home record in the league this season, with eight wins out of eight. After 14 matches, the undefeated City have collected 38 points from 12 wins and two draws, five points more than second placed Liverpool, who play Everton at home on Sunday.

City pulled ahead in the 14th minute through Bernardo Silva's strike, but Bournemouth looked increasingly dangerous. In the 44th minute, Simon Francis swung in a perfect cross for Callum Wilson to rise and head home.

The hosts were much better after the break and goals from Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan sealed a 3-1 victory that also extends the Blues' unbeaten Premier League run to 20.

Guardiola said afterwards to BBC Sport, "It was a good win. After the Champions League it is always tough. People think it's easy for us but that is not the truth, so I like to win in this way.

"We don't expect every 90 minutes to have an incredible performance. Sometimes it happens. It is a lesson we have to learn, how to win when we are tired."

Manchester United fought back from two goals down to grab a point at Southampton after a 2-2 draw at St Mary's.

The Reds fell behind to an early Stuart Armstrong strike and when Cedric doubled Southampton's lead from an excellent free-kick the signs looked ominous. But Jose Mourinho's men fought back to level at the break thanks to goals from Romelu Lukaku and Ander Herrera.

United move to seventh - still six points off a Champions League place and 16 less than arch rivals Manchester City.

Crystal Palace earned their first home win of the season as they beat Burnley 2-0 while Brighton fought back to beat 10-man Huddersfield 2-1.

James McArthur put Crystal Palace ahead with Andros Townsend adding a second to give former England manager Roy Hodgson's side clear of the bottom three.

Leicester City climbed to seventh in the table after James Maddison scored a fine individual effort to add to Jamie Vardy's opener from the spot in a 2-0 victory over Watford, who had Etienne Capoue sent off.

West Ham travelled to Newcastle United to get a 3-0 victory.

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