Spurs edge City, Liverpool crush Villa

LONDON: Christian Eriksen celebrated his 24th birthday with the winning goal for Tottenham Hotspur when they beat Manchester City 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to stay second in the Premier League table and Liverpool pushed Aston Villa even closer to relegation after crushing the bottom club 6-0.

Spurs broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute after referee Mark Clattenburg ruled that City’s Raheem Sterling had handled in the area even though he turned his back as Danny Rose crossed and the ball hardly seemed to hit his arm.

But that did not worry Kane who fired his spot kick down the centre of the goal and past his England team-mate Joe Hart into the net.

Yaya Toure almost equalised for the home side when he hit the bar with a 57th minute free kick, but they were soon level when Kelechi Iheanacho swept a cross from Gael Clichy into the roof of the Spurs’ net.

Eriksen though gave Spurs all three points when he scored in the 83rd minute after a surging run from Erik Lamela.

The defeat left City fourth in the Premier League table, six points adrift of leaders Leicester City, and Pellegrini’s usual calm demeanour was replaced by anger as he questioned the FA’s decision to appoint Clattenburg for the match.

Pellegrini subsequently accused Clattenburg of wanting to award the penalty and gave a scathing assessment of the same referee’s performance in the reverse fixture last September.

“It was a penalty that referee Mark Clattenburg wanted to signal for and he gave the signal,” Pellegrini said in a post-match interview.

“It was absolutely the wrong decision. It hit the back of Sterling, then his elbow and he was not even seeing the ball,” he added.

“It was the same referee in the first game (at White Hart Lane) where there were two clear offside goals and we lost 4-1. For me, I don’t think it is a good decision to have had the same referee,” he said.

The result marked the first time City have registered back-to-back home defeats in the league this season, but captain Vincent Kompany said the team should not abandon hope of winning the title.

“We probably could have played a little bit better. Until the penalty, the game plan was okay and we were defending well,” the Belgian centre-back said.

“But we would be stupid to forget our history and how we react in those moments,” he added.

Meanwhile, Liverpool went ahead when Daniel Sturridge, who has been injured for most of the season, headed in after 16 minutes before former Villa winger James Milner doubled their lead with an inswinging free kick eight minutes later.

Villa collapsed midway through the second half conceding four goals in 13 minutes with Emre Can starting the blitz with a 25-metre shot that beat keeper Mark Bunn after 57 minutes.

Divock Origi burst through to make it 4-0 a minute after coming on as a substitute before England defender Nathaniel Clyne made it 5-0 with a tap-in and Kolo Toure headed a sixth in the 70th. The victory ended Liverpool’s run of five matches without a win in all competitions.