Man City, Spurs suffer defeats

SUNDERLAND defender Phil Bardsley struck for the second time in five days to condemn Manchester City to a 1-0 loss, their fourth successive Barclays Premier League defeat on Wearside. The full-back, who edged himself back into the affections of Black Cats fans with the opening goal in last Wednesday night’s Capital One Cup win over Southampton, did it again to secure another 1-0 home win against City, the same score as in the past three seasons.

For Manuel Pellegrini’s men, it was a fourth defeat in six league outings away from the Etihad Stadium this summer, and a return of just four points from a possible 18 on the road is severely hampering their title chances.

They arrived at the Stadium of Light having scored 14 goals in their past three games in all competitions, but as Sunderland defended as if their lives depended on it, they were unable to find a way past goalkeeper Vito Mannone.

It was just a second league victory of the season for the home side, and it served to boost their survival hopes and once again justify manager Gus Poyet’s approach in front of a crowd of 40 137.

Meanwhile, Loic Remy’s early strike sealed a hard-fought 1-0 victory for Newcastle against Tottenham at White Hart Lane but it was goalkeeper Tim Krul who will deservedly take the plaudits.

With all of the pre-game talk about Spurs stopper Hugo Lloris missing out after being knocked unconscious at Everton last weekend, it was the Magpies’ own number one who produced heroics to earn his side a 1-0 win.

Remy’s well-taken strike in the 13th minute – his seventh goal in his last seven Barclays Premier League appearances – put the visitors ahead before his Dutch team-mate took centre stage, blocking Spurs at every turn.

The 25-year-old was worked much harder than Brad Friedel in the Spurs goal, the American deputising after Spurs’ medical team opted to give Lloris a few more days’ rest after his collision with Everton forward Romelu Lukaku seven days earlier.

Time and again Krul was called into action, producing fantastic saves to deny Roberto Soldado, Paulinho and Gylfi Sigurdsson amongst others.-Soccernet.