In less than five minutes, Kevin De Bruyne demonstrated why Manchester City’s chances of winning the second half of the Premier League may depend on him returning from injury.
Five months following hamstring surgery, De Bruyne scored a goal off the bench to give City the victory, 3-2. Even though De Bruyne had not participated in the league since the August opening of the season, he always seemed to be nearby.
With the game down 2-1 at St. James’ Park with the home team finding it difficult to penetrate their defense, De Bruyne came in the 69th minute and altered the course of events with two deft touches of his right foot. He collected the ball in the 74th minute and, dodging goalkeeper Martin Dubravka’s reach, finished with precision inside the near post. In stoppage time, he made a complete recovery by taking a well-placed effort in the box for his first Premier League goal.
De Bruyne remarked, “I remembered it.” “I believe that more than anything else, it was willpower. It was absurd. I am aware that right now, I cannot do it for ninety minutes. I can do this part for thirty minutes. I can sense it in my lungs, particularly in the cold.”
De Bruyne’s goal sent Newcastle into their fourth consecutive league loss, dropping Eddie Howe’s squad to eighth place. Chelsea defeated Fulham 1-0 to take over the eighth-place spot. Due to the winter break, several Premier League teams received a weekend off on Saturday, with only two games scheduled.
Although City have won six straight games across all competitions, winning more could depend on getting the best and most important player in the league back to full condition. This is particularly important because top attacker Erling Haaland is still out with a leg injury.
Manager Pep Guardiola remarked, “Kevin is unique in the world when he has the ball and we have runners.” “But with Oscar, now I’m very happy, happy for him.” Although they moved up to second position over Aston Villa, Guardiola’s squad is still two points down behind Liverpool. But in the second leg of the campaign against Arsenal, the reigning champions overcame a major shortcoming in their title campaign with a strong second-half display.
Guardiola’s squad has a battle in trying to breach their hosts’ defense as Newcastle was ahead 2-1 at St. James’ Park and had defeated City in the League Cup at home in September. The story was altered when De Bruyne entered the fray.
With a goal from Kyle Walker’s cross in the 26th minute, Bernardo Silva gave City the lead. But in just two minutes, Newcastle struck back, thanks to goals from Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak, giving the home team the lead. Isak equalized the score with a long-range strike, and Gordon quickly mounted a counterattack before adding another goal inside the near post.
Although Guardiola’s group passed Aston Villa to claim the second position, they are still two points behind Liverpool. However, in the latter stages of the season, the champions overcame a major setback suffered against Arsenal in their quest for the crown. Under manager Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea won the league for the third time in a row, and Callum Hudson-Odoi scored a vital goal against Fulham in the West London Derby.
In what has been Chelsea’s best performance in three years, Hudson-Odoi scored from the penalty spot in the first half to secure the team’s fourth straight home league victory at Stamford Bridge. The 21-year-old’s goal, his ninth in the league this year and his fifth from the penalty spot, came after he failed to capitalize on chances during Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough in the League Cup semi-final first leg.
“After the Middlesbrough game, I was frustrated, like anyone is going to be, I had a lot of chances and was letting the team down,” Palmer stated. “People know you have the ability, so just keep trying and had to put it past me.”
After the match, Marco Silva, the manager of Fulham, expressed his displeasure, saying that Malang Sarr, a defender for Chelsea, ought to have been sent off in the first half.
“It’s a blatant error by VAR,” Silva declared. It’s an obvious red card.
About a thousand home supporters demonstrated against the club’s ownership on the field during the first half of Reading’s third-tier match against Port Vale on Saturday, forcing several of them to stay on the field for about 16 minutes. Reading pleaded on social media and over the loudspeakers for fans to be let out so the League One match could continue.
It’s still uncertain whether Port Vale will win or if the game will be replayed.
Another development was the cancellation of Bolton vs. Cheltenham’s second-tier League One match on Saturday due to medical emergencies among the fans. The Premier League’s professional divisions are supervised by the English Football League, which declared that it “will discuss the implications of today’s events with the clubs involved later this afternoon.”
