Kevin De Bruyne came back to haunt his old club as his fine strike handed Premier League leaders Manchester City a 1-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday.
Against no side has De Bruyne scored more Premier League goals than he has against the Blues (five), with this total the most against Chelsea by any player who has previously played for them in the competition.
Elsewhere, Manchester United threw away a two-goal lead at Aston Villa to draw 2-2, with Philippe Coutinho sealing a point on his debut following his loan move from Barcelona.
Wolves beat Southampton 3-1 and Norwich City piled the pressure on Rafael Benitez with a 2-1 win over Everton, while strugglers Newcastle United and Watford played out a 1-1 draw.
Here, Stats Perform unpacks the pick of the Opta data from another eventful day in the Premier League.
Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea: De Bruyne edges Guardiola's men closer to the title
City's seemingly unstoppable march towards the Premier League title continued with a 12th straight top-flight win.
It marked the ninth run of 12 or more victories in the competition's history, with Pep Guardiola's side now responsible for four of those.
The decisive goal came from Kevin De Bruyne, the Belgium international superbly whipping into the bottom-right corner from distance with 20 minutes remaining.
De Bruyne has scored 21 Premier League goals from outside the penalty area – the most of any player since his first season with City (2015-16), and the joint-most of any Citizens player in the competition's history (level with Sergio Aguero).
Chelsea scarcely landed a blow on their hosts, failing to register a single shot in the first half. Indeed, they had just seven touches in City's penalty area – their fewest in a single Premier League match since January 2015 (also seven vs Man City).
Aston Villa 2-2 Manchester United: Red Devils squander two-goal lead
A stirring late fight back from Villa meant United failed to win a Premier League away game in which they led by 2+ goals for the first time since January 2016 against Newcastle (3-3).
Bruno Fernandes' opener was the first Premier League goal United have scored from a set piece situation this season (excluding penalties), before the Portugal international doubled their advantage in the second period.
Since making his United debut in February 2020, only Mohamed Salah (45) and Harry Kane (34) have scored more Premier League goals than Fernandes (33), while only James Ward-Prowse (seven) has scored more goals from outside the box in the competition during this period than the Portuguese (six).
Jacob Ramsey inspired a memorable comeback, though, the 20-year-old becoming the first Villa player to both score and assist against United in a single Premier League game since John Carew in April 2009, and the third-youngest player to do it against the Red Devils in the Premier League overall after Kelechi Iheanacho in September 2016 and Harry Kewell in November 1998.
Coutinho ensured the points were shared in what was his first Premier League appearance in 1477 days (for Liverpool vs Leicester City in December 2017).
Norwich City 2-1 Everton: Idah gets off the mark to put Benitez on the brink
The Canaries kick-started their bid for survival with a second win in six Premier League home games under Dean Smith – as many as they managed in their final 21 home games in the competition under previous manager Daniel Farke.
There were just 92 seconds between Michael Keane's own goal and Adam Idah's first Premier League strike, the hosts scoring as many times inside the opening 18 minutes as they had in their previous eight top-flight matches combined (one).
Idah's goal was his first in 27 Premier League appearances, while it was his first league goal since May 2021, when he scored in Norwich's final game of the Championship season.
The result meant Everton, who pulled one back through Richarlison, have won just 19 points from their 19 league games this season. Only twice previously have they had fewer at this stage of a Premier League campaign (17 in 1997-98 and 2005-06) and it looks as though Benitez's time may be up.
Wolves 3-1 Southampton: Traore off the mark as hosts' fine season continues
Wolves completed a top-flight double over Southampton for the first time since 1971-72, as well as winning three in a row against Saints in the top tier for the first time since October 1970.
Raul Jimenez and Conor Coady put them 2-0 up before the hour mark, with the latter's three Premier League goals coming from just four shots on target in 134 appearances.
Saints captain James Ward-Prowse scored his 12th direct free-kick goal in the Premier League to reduce the deficit – a haul bettered only by David Beckham (18).
However, Adama Traore's first goal in 22 top-flight appearances ensured Wolves picked up 31 points from their first 20 games of the season – their best return at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 1979-80 (also 31 points) when they finished in sixth place.
Portland Timbers v FC Dallas: Neville hopes to bounce back and clinch play-off spot
Portland Timbers coach Phil Neville is “looking forward to bouncing back” after a defeat to Austin FC, as a win or a draw against FC Dallas will be enough to secure a place in the MLS playoffs.
Portland fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to Austin, who they are vying with for the final play-off spot in the Western Conference.
While The Timbers will have a second chance to secure their spot against the Seattle Sounders should they fail to gain points against Dallas, Neville will hope to enter the final day with it already wrapped up.
Portland currently sit six points ahead of Austin, meaning a draw against Dallas will be enough.
“We’re looking forward to bouncing back,” Neville told the press. “We’ve qualified for the playoffs barring a miracle.
“We’ve got to return to what we do best and that’s put on a convincing show at home on Sunday.”
The man in the opposition dugout, Peter Luccin, is far more disappointed with his side's recent defeat, which saw them mathematically ruled out of playoff contention.
Dallas lost 3-2 to the San Jose Earthquakes midweek, which puts them eleventh in the table and out of reach of their opponents.
Luccin’s side had kept the scores level at 1-1 until the 79th minute when San Jose scored two in quick succession before Dallas pulled one back. It left the interim head coach frustrated with the display.
"[I’m] very disappointed, very sad, mad at the same time. With Austin beating Portland, our scenario was perfect, winning this game and going to Portland just five points away and trying to beat Portland. It’s so disappointing,” he said, via Big D Soccer.
“The goal that we conceded, the chances that we missed. Very, very disappointed. I haven’t had time to talk with the players, it is a night to suffer a little bit. We didn’t take care of business and it’s all on us.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Portland Timbers – Evander
Attacking midfielder Evander has the second-most assists in the league with 14 in 26 appearances, only behind FC Cincinnati’s Luciano Acosta, who has 16 in 30 appearances.
The Brazilian ranks joint-sixth in the league for chances created having produced 81 across the season, while he has also scored 15 goals.
Dallas - Peter Musa
Musa is the top goalscorer for Dallas this season (15), with three times the number of goals than his highest-scoring team-mate, Paul Arriola.
He was on the scoresheet last time the two sides met in a high-scoring encounter that saw Dallas win 3-2.
MATCH PREDICTION: PORTLAND TIMBERS WIN
Portland have lost just one of their 15 all-time home matches against Dallas (W9 D5), going unbeaten in the last seven (W4 D3).
Dallas have scored just two total goals in those seven visits, following a 3-1 victory in their only win at Portland in April 2016.
Despite failing to score at home on Wednesday, Portland’s 39 goals at Providence Park this season in the MLS is their most in a single regular season since the club joined the league in 2011.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Portland Timbers – 54.2%
Draw – 23.5%
Dallas – 22.3%
Guardiola not concerned despite Manchester City's poor defensive record
Pep Guardiola is not worried about Manchester City's defending despite the reigning champions failing to keep a clean sheet in their last six Premier League matches.
City went 1-0 down against Fulham before fighting back to win 3-2 on Saturday. Their opponents also amassed an expected goals (xG) total of 2.4 compared to City's 1.55.
It follows a trend of unusually sloppy defensive displays from the champions, who have conceded eight goals in their last six league matches. They also had to come from behind against Brentford in September.
Guardiola, however, is not overly worried.
"Sometimes I give credit. The first goal – why don't we give credit to them rather than [be critical] defensively? There are actions we can defend better but step by step we will improve," he said, via the Guardian.
"I would say except [Yoane] Wissa against Brentford, in the other ones we were playing good. It's not nice to come back from 0-1 but we created chances today to go 1-0 and 2-0."
City allowed Fulham five big chances compared to their one, with the London side taking 11 shots, nine of those from inside the box.
Comparatively, City had 20 shots with only half of those coming from inside the box. However, two of the visitors’ goals came from outside the area with Jeremy Doku and Mateo Kovacic both firing in from distance.
"I'm very happy he scored two goals, he's not a guy to score [usually] those goals," Guardiola said of Kovacic, who is one of the midfielders the City boss expects to fill in for the injured Rodri this season.
“We started really well with two chances in two minutes and they switched immediately to five at the back. When they do that, we have one man free on the 18-yard box and that is Kovacic.
"The two goals were because they couldn't defend that. We have to exploit that more against teams that don’t play five at the back – now opponents know that they can’t leave him [Kovacic] alone, otherwise he will score a goal."
New York City FC v Nashville SC: 'Fourth place is everything', claims Cushing
Nick Cushing has insisted New York City FC's focus must be on rounding off the regular-season strongly as he eyes a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference.
His side sit fifth, two points behind current fourth-placed Orlando City after a 3-2 home victory over third-placed FC Cincinnati.
They have two games remaining before the postseason, which they have already secured their place in, but they also have the chance to reach 50 points for the first time since 2022.
With Orlando facing a tough opponent in Cincinnati this weekend, Cushing remains determined to direct his team's focus on their upcoming match.
"The whole aim of not having a mental slip up [against Nashville] is to focus on fourth place," he told the press.
"Fourth place is everything to us. We could be playing top of the league. We could be playing the team bottom of the league.
"Our mentality, our focus, has to be on performing, and on getting intensity into the game and doing the things that have helped us win football games lately because if we continue to win and somebody around us slips up, that fourth place is open for us."
Their visiting opponents, Nashville SC, find themselves in a different predicament as they sit outside of the playoff spots in 13th place.
"I think Nashville are a really difficult team to play against. I think under their previous coach [they were] direct, and incredible on set plays,” added Cushing.
"Hany Muktar is very dangerous. Sam Surridge is a top player. They’ve got good players, and you have to see past results because, with the new coach, they now play a little bit more."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York City – Alonso Martinez
Martinez is the joint-ninth top scorer in the MLS this season with a club-leading 15 goals in 24 appearances so far.
NYCFC have not failed to score in their last five matches, and Martinez will be key to them keeping this streak in the hope of a win against Nashville.
Nashville – Hany Mukhtar
Mukhtar had a goal and an assist in Nashville's loss to D.C. United on Wednesday, his 30th career MLS match with multiple goal contributions.
Only Luciano Acosta and Daniel Gazdag have 20 such matches since Mukhtar debuted in MLS in 2020.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK CITY WIN
The hosts are in hot form. They have won consecutive matches after recording just one win in their previous 14 in all competitions (D9 L4).
NYCFC have scored eight times in the two matches, the first time the club has scored eight goals in a two-match span since April-May 2022.
Nashville, on the other hand, have lost six of their last seven regular-season away matches dating back to the beginning of July. They have scored just four goals over those seven matches and have only scored 10 times on the road in 2024, the fewest in MLS this season.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New York City – 55.6%
Draw – 22.9%
Nashville – 21.5%
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
