Premier League: Manchester City breaks another record, Leicester wins fourth straight
Pretty soon, Manchester City will run out of records to break. But not yet. Not quite. Wednesday brought yet another opportunity. And City seized it in style.
The Premier League leaders, who still haven’t dropped points since the second weekend of the season, traveled to bottom-of-the-table Swansea and were superior in every way imaginable. They capitalized on some shoddy Swans defending, and strutted to a 4-0 win. David Silva bagged a brace. Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero got one goal apiece.
It was their 15th league victory in a row, an English top-flight record, single-season or otherwise. City had set the single-season mark with a 14th consecutive win in the Manchester Derby on Sunday. With Wednesday’s win, it outlasted Arsenal’s streak that spanned an offseason in 2002.
There is no telling when City will stumble, or even simply slow up. There is no telling when its dominance will abate. Manchester United kept pace in second place, but remains 11 points back. City’s truest competition might just be Arsenal’s Invincibles, the 2003-04 team that went an entire 38-game season unbeaten. City is almost halfway there.
Elsewhere around the Premier League on Wednesday …
Manchester United scrapes by Bournemouth
Manchester United fans spent an entire 72 hours frantically discussing one of two things: Either the post-derby tunnel brawl involving Jose Mourinho, or their star striker’s worrying goal drought. Romelu Lukaku was celebrated earlier in the campaign for scoring more than a goal per game in his first 10 matches after a £75 million summer move from Everton. But he had gone cold. Freezing cold. Since those first 10 matches, he’d tallied just two in 14.
Now he’s got three in 15, and two in three. Lukaku overpowered Bournemouth’s defense in the driving rain at Old Trafford on Wednesday with a first-half header:
Jose Mourinho handed first league starts of the season to Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay, and the understrength Red Devils were fairly underwhelming. Bournemouth had 14 shots to United’s nine, and seven on goal to United’s two. But three points are three points, and Mourinho will absolutely be content with them – especially with some competitors slipping up.
Arsenal and Liverpool both held
Arsene Wenger, like Mourinho, rotated his team, and that team found itself up against a spirited West Ham side at the London Stadium. The same Hammers side had beaten Chelsea four days earlier, and it entered a second-straight cross-London clash with a similar approach. Its fans were in full voice. It held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw.
Liverpool also had to settle for a stalemate at home against West Brom. That was undoubtedly the worst result of the day among the Big Six. The Reds had a chance to go a couple points clear into the top four, but missed that chance, and therefore remain in a jumbled mess with Tottenham, Arsenal and Burnley in table positions 4-7.
Leicester is on a roll
The Foxes smashed Southampton 4-1 via three first-half goals, and have now won four in a row. Riyad Mahrez is producing at or near 2015-16 levels, and he set Leicester on its way Wednesday:
Since the club sacked Craig Shakespeare in mid-October, it has won seven, drawn two and lost one in all competitions, with the lone loss to Manchester City. It is firmly up into eighth place after flirting with the relegation zone early in season, and looks like it’ll be here – in the top half – to stay.
Burnley has been lauded, and rightly so, for its remarkable rise. It briefly leapt into fourth place with a late win over Stoke on Tuesday. But Leicester has been even better over the past month, and probably should be considered the favorite for seventh place.
Other scores
Tottenham 2-0 Brighton
Newcastle 0-1 Everton
Tuesday’s scores
Burnley 1-0 Stoke
Crystal Palace 2-1 Watford
Huddersfield 1-3 Chelsea
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Henry Bushnell covers global soccer, and occasionally other ball games, for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Question? Comment? Email him at henrydbushnell@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @HenryBushnell.