City claim routine win, Conte in first victory

LONDON. — Manchester City claimed a comfortable 3-0 victory over Everton to move back up to second in the Premier League and within touching distance of leaders Chelsea.

Raheem Sterling’s first-half effort set City on their way, marking his 300th top-flight appearance with a deft finish from Joao Cancelo’s sublime outside-of-the-foot pass.

Rodri’s thunderous drive extended their lead after the break and Bernardo Silva tapped in late on in a one-sided contest.

Everton, who had benefitted from a first-half video assistant referee decision to overturn the award of a penalty when Sterling fell under Michael Keane’s challenge, toiled throughout.

With four key players already sidelined, Rafael Benitez’s side rarely looked capable of posing the hosts any problems in attack and Demarai Gray added to their mounting injury concerns by limping off early on.

The only crumb of comfort for the visitors, who remain 11th in the table, was that the margin of defeat was not greater.

Ilkay Gundogan headed against the crossbar for City and Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made excellent saves to prevent Silva and Sterling from adding to the scoreline.

With Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes all out injured, a depleted Everton side initially did well to negotiate most of the first period on level terms.

While the hosts dominated possession, they were largely frustrated and there were audible groans of discontent from the home supporters when Sterling miscontrolled the ball inside the Everton penalty area as half-time approached.

However, seconds later that disappointment turned to elation as Sterling spun in behind the Everton defence to break the deadlock and wheel away in delight.

From there on in, City went in cruise control with Everton’s response limited to a brief five-minute period after the interval in which they attempted to press the hosts back. They built some pressure but could not create any realistic chances to score.

Meanwhile, Antonio Conte secured his first Premier League win in charge of Tottenham as Spurs staged an impressive second-half comeback to beat struggling Leeds 2-1 yesterday.

The hosts failed to manage a single shot on or off target in a lacklustre opening 45 minutes with the determined visitors by far the better side.

Kalvin Phillips had an early free kick saved by Hugo Lloris and Adam Forshaw drove just wide before Leeds opened the scoring as half time approached when Daniel James stabbed in Jack Harrison’s excellent cross.

There were some boos from the home fans as Tottenham left the pitch for the break, but Conte’s side were much improved after the restart, twice hitting the woodwork early on.

First, Harry Kane – anonymous in the first half – broke clear of the defence and his powerful low effort squirmed under Illan Meslier and hit the base of the upright before Song Heung-min’s heavily-deflected strike hit the crossbar.

The equaliser arrived just before the hour mark when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg curled into the far corner after good work by Lucas Moura.

Tottenham kept up the pressure and the turnaround was complete in the 69th minute when Eric Dier’s free-kick deflected off the wall and onto the post, but Sergio Reguilon was there to poke in the rebound and score his first Premier League goal for Spurs.

The home side then closed out the game to secure a win that moves them up to seventh, four points off the top four.

Leeds, meanwhile, remain 17th and just two points above the relegation zone. — BBC Sport.