Premier League: Manchester City rout Spurs

LONDON: Manchester City's relentless march towards reclaiming the Premier League title continued with a 3-0 romp over Tottenham Hotspur after champions Liverpool capitulated at Leicester City to suffer a third consecutive defeat on Saturday.

In-form Ilkay Gundogan scored twice for City, who have now won 11 Premier League games in a row.

The German took his tally to 11 league goals this season as he struck twice in the second half after Rodri's first-half penalty, following a foul on Gundogan by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, had given Pep Guardiola's side the lead.

Victory put City on 53 points, seven clear of second-placed Leicester, and with a game in hand.

The only slight worry for Guardiola, whose side have won 16 times in a row in all competitions, was that Gundogan was substituted in the 69th because of a tight groin.

Although with striker Sergio Aguero among the City substitutes after an 11-game absence due to COVID-19 it left Guardiola a happy man.

"It was well deserved, they hit the post and that can turn the game but the way we wanted to play was there," Guardiola, said. "Tottenham have special quality, we have played well against them in the past and lost 2-0."

That 2-0 defeat at Tottenham in November put Jose Mourinho's side top of the league but the north London club's form has disappeared and they were outplayed on Saturday despite Harry Kane hitting the post with a free kick when it was 0-0.

Tottenham are ninth after losing four of their last five league games and Mourinho was left grasping at straws.

"We were punished by what I call the modern penalty," Mourinho said. "The penalty you cannot deny there was a contact but now in modern football every contact is a penalty."

Fourth-placed Liverpool's defeat left them 13 points behind City having played a game more and they are now in danger of dropping out of the top four.

Burnley pulled further clear of the Premier League relegation zone with a 3-0 win at Crystal Palace moving them up to 15th place in the table.

Burnley are now on 26 points, 11 above 18th-placed Fulham who occupy the highest of the relegation spots. Palace are in 13th place on 29 points. Agencies

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