Man City skipper Gundogan to the fore

Manchester City closed in on retaining the Premier League title as a 21 win over struggling Leeds on Saturday opened up a fourpoint lead at the top of the tableSkipper Ilkay Gundogan struck twice before halftime and missed a penalty as City made it 14 consecutive wins at the Etihad in 2023 But the home side were made to suffer a far more nervy finale than necessary after Rodrigo pulled a goal back five minutes from timePep Guardiola was far from happy after Erling Haaland gave Gundogan the chance to seal his hattrick from the spot rather than taking responsibility six minutes from time That rounded off a rare poor day for Haaland who missed a number of chances to add to his 51 goals in all competitions this seasonEight points neededCityrsquos far superior goal difference over Arsenal means Guardiolarsquos men likely need a maximum of eight points from their last four games to claim a fifth league title in six seasonsSam Allardycersquos return to the dugout had no immediate impact in reviving Leedsrsquo fortunes as they remain outside the relegation zone only on goal difference Allardyce made the remarkable claim midweek that he was ldquoas goodrdquo as Guardiola after being appointed for the final four games of the seasonAlso Read Erling Haalandrsquos heroics takes Man City boss Guardiola by surpriseBut the former England boss was quickly teased with chants of ldquoyoursquore getting sacked in the morningrdquo as the visitors failed to offer any resistance to wave upon wave of City attack early on After the English national anthem was played just prior to kickoff to mark the coronation of King Charles III the game quickly turned into a processionPep makes seven changesGuardiola could even afford the luxury of making seven changes with one eye on Tuesdayrsquos trip to Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals Gundogan was one of those brought back into the side as John Stones Ruben Dias Rodri Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva were among those handed a rest Leeds were lucky to last until 19 minutes without conceding as Haaland fired his first big chance into the chest of goalkeeper Joel Robles who was brought in by Allardyce to replace Illan MeslierGundogan showed the star striker how it is done as twice the German midfielder received passes from Riyad Mahrez and picked out the bottom corner from the edge of the boxKevin De Bruynersquos return from injury was another timely boost for Cityrsquos quest for a treble of trophies and the Belgianrsquos brilliant layoff should have been buried by Haaland who fired wide Haaland set a new Premier League record of 35 goals in a single season against West Ham on Wednesday And the 22yearold will think he should have had a seventh hattrick of his first season in English football let alone walk away emptyhandedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever