Manchester City Stays in First
LONDON — Manchester City scored a dramatic 3-2 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, leaving Manchester United its only likely rival for the Premier League title.
Third-place Tottenham rallied from 2-0 down to tie the score. But Jermain Defoe missed an injury-time chance for Tottenham and Mario Balotelli won the game for City with a penalty kick he earned himself.
Mario Balotelli was involved in yet another controversy as he scored the game-winner against Spurs, while United defeated Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday, writes James Martin.Blog
Fouled by Tottenham’s Ledley King, the Italy striker took a step, paused and shot past American goalkeeper Brad Friedel to give City its 11th win from 11 home games.
City is eight points ahead of Tottenham. Defending champion United is three behind in second place after a 2-1 win at Arsenal.
“We created an amazing amount of chances and to only score two is a bit disappointing,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “We should have rammed home our advantage in the first half.”
Antonio Valencia scored United’s first goal and set up the winner over an Arsenal team that slipped 18 points behind City and five behind the final Champions League qualifying berth.
Arsenal is five points behind fourth-place Chelsea — which drew 0-0 at Norwich on Saturday — and 18 behind City. Newcastle trails Arsenal on goal difference after Clint Dempsey’s hat trick gave Fulham a 5-2 win over the Magpies on Saturday.
