Phil Foden demonstrated an impressive performance, hitting a hat-trick in Manchester City’s 4-1 victory against Aston Villa, perpetuating their momentum in the Premier League title competition. The day prior, Pep Guardiola defended Erling Haaland from an onslaught of criticism by Roy Keane. Nonetheless, Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne were placed on the bench for this match, paving the way for Foden to assume centre stage. This resulted in him securing his second hat-trick of the season.
Following Rodri’s initial goal, which was later equalled by Jhon Duran, Foden regained the lead for City with a free-kick just before the half-time whistle. He subsequently achieved two more stunning goals shortly past the 60-minute mark, elevating his total City goals for the season to 21.
This triumph, their first against a top-five team this season, places Guardiola’s team at third in the ranking, level with Liverpool and one point behind leaders Arsenal. Despite the unchanged positions, this was a notably smoother display by the champions in comparison to their performance against Arsenal, which put an end to their 57 consecutive home game scoring streak.
Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku were introduced on the wings with Foden playing internally, thus leading City to victory amidst the forthcoming Champions League journey to Real Madrid. The absence of De Bruyne and Haaland, who have both recently returned from injuries, was felt during this critical match.
Emiliano Martinez, Villa’s goalkeeper, was absent due to illness, requiring Robin Olsen to step in minutes before the game began. The game started with Rodri scoring the first goal, only for it to be equalised by Villa shortly after. Eventually, the Man City team pulled ahead thanks to Foden’s noteworthy performance.
In the initial half, Luiz’s reckless actions were on display. He had already been cautioned for tackling Grealish just outside the penalty box, he committed a similar foul on Foden during extra time of the first half. Despite his provocative behaviour, referee Darren England chose not to issue any more cards. Luiz’s actions still cost Villa though, as Foden exploited a hole left by Nicolo Zaniolo in the defensive wall to outsmart Olsen. Before half time, Alvarez narrowly missed on two occasions, with Olsen deflecting a headshot from close quarters over the bar. As the second half began, the goalkeeper stayed busy, fending off Bernardo Silva who was in a heads up position following a clean pass from Foden.
Villa took the offensive approach via Luiz, who advanced forward and launched a shot saved by Ortega, who subsequently blocked Clement Lenglet’s corner. Foden, however, sealed the match in the 62nd minute. After overcoming Moussa Diaby’s opposition, Rodri fed Foden the ball, allowing him to outwit Olsen with a one-shot into the bottom right corner. Lewis’s shot just wide was the prelude to the decisive fourth goal in the 69th minute. Despite Foden losing possession on the border of Villa’s box, the ball fell back into his control after Calum Chambers failed in his clearance attempt. Not wasting any time, Foden skilfully drove the shot to the top right corner.
Arsenal registered a 2-0 comfortable victory over Luton Town who were battling relegation. The win saw them reclaim the Premier League’s lead. Martin Odegaard’s tenth goal of the season helped set the tone for a breezy evening at the Emirates Stadium. Daiki Hashioka’s own goal sealed the victory for Mikel Arteta’s squad, who followed up a determined stalemate against Manchester City to extend their unbeaten Premier League run in 2024.
Despite the outcome of the match between Liverpool and Sheffield United, Arsenal’s stint at the top might be fleeting given the upcoming tough matches. Luton, plagued by injuries, didn’t pose much of a challenge in this North London encounter. Despite failing to strike the net in one of their 19 league encounters, they remain just three points clear from the drop, maintaining their winless streak at 10 matches.
Arteta, the chief of Arsenal, initiated the first out of eight fixtures in April, including a Champions League quarter-finale against Bayern Munich, with five alterations from the resilient deadlock against Pep Guardiola’s current champions on Easter Sunday. Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe were given uncommon endeavours to standout as part of the squad rotation, amidst Bukayo Saka’s absence and others like Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus being moved to the subs bench.
Luton’s less renowned reserve list comprised two keepers and four young players, inclusive of 16-year-old student Christian Chigozie. In the face of unyielding Arsenal domination, the tenacious Hatters starting group, showing three modifications, withstood until the 24th minute when they were unmade by expensive defensive hesitation.
Smith Rowe snatched the ball from the hesistant Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu within the guests’ territory, then skipper Odegaard swapped passes with Kai Havertz for a initial, left-footed strike beyond Thomas Kaminski. Luton weathered the storm, looking likely to enter half-time only one goal down following Kaminski’s successful saves from Smith Rowe and Havertz. However, Rob Edwards’ team faced a significant obstacle a minute before halftime when Japan’s defender Hashioka accidentally redirected Smith Rowe’s low cross into his own goal, under pressure from Nelson.
The Hatters, currently in the 18th rank, were back in London four days after their slim 2-1 defeat at Tottenham on Saturday. Their single attempt on goal in the largely one-sided first half was Ross Barkley’s long-range free-kick, comfortably held by David Raya. Arsenal surprisingly needed an exciting, last-minute goal from England midfielder Rice in December to snatch a 4-3 win in Kenilworth Road.
However, no such dramatic measures were needed this time as a significantly quieter second half continued uneventfully, keeping their championship bid in motion. Arsenal’s next match will be at Brighton on Saturday evening, before the first match of the European leg with Bayern next week. In the meantime, Luton’s fight for survival will resume at home against Bournemouth.
-The Brentford vs Brighton match at the Gtech Stadium ended in an uninspiring 0-0 draw. Early in the draw, there was a glimpse of excitement when Brentford almost netted the ball after a rapid transition from one end of the field to the other.
Nathan Collins sent the ball to Keane Lewis-Potter via Ivan Toney and Mathias Jensen, but Yoane Wissa missed his near-post cross, narrowly sending the ball wide of the goal. Toney had his first crack at goal half an hour into the match due to an assist from Wissa. However, his effort was thwarted by defender Jan Paul van Hecke from 12 yards and his scuffled shot was saved by Bart Verbruggen despite a slight loss of balance.
Joao Pedro, Brighton’s leading scorer making a comeback after a two-month injury break, managed a shot that was saved by Bees’ goalkeeper Mark Flekken, and a shot from van Hecke was misdirected. Following these efforts, an off-target attempt by Facundo Buonanotte firing wide of goal and Adam Lallana existed, and Simon Adingra’s shot was also saved by Flekken.
During the first-half stoppage time, the referee Andrew Madley was asked to review a potential penalty situation involving a foul by Wissa on Lewis Dunk at the sideline monitor, a suggestion made by the VAR. Nevertheless, Madley determined that there was no foul and sided with the attacking Bees’ forward.
The second half began with Brighton’s Joel Veltman, found by a ball from Pedro, taking a shot that unfortunately soared into the stands. Toney, who had not found the net in his last six games, made an ambitious 25-yard free-kick attempt only to hit the ball far over the crossbar. Substitute Danny Welbeck had two opportunities to tip the game in Brighton’s favour during stoppage time but missed a header following a corner and then sent a low shot skimming the wrong side of the far post, while a notably undistinguished match ended in a draw.