City stumbles in the Premier League before the Club World Cup – 16/12/2023 – Sport

Manchester City wasted a two-goal lead at home against Crystal Palace, who equalized with a penalty in stoppage time, this Saturday (16), just before the English and European champions compete in the Club World Cup. The game, valid for the 17th round of the Premier League, ended 2-2.

The trip to Saudi Arabia, where City will face, on Tuesday (19), Urawa Red Diamonds, from Japan, in the semi-final of the tournament, will have a bittersweet taste after another stumble for Pep Guardiola’s team, who are in fourth place in the English championship.

This Saturday’s match seemed won and was overwhelmingly dominated by City, who had almost 75% possession of the ball.

Frenchman Jean-Philippe Mateta allowed Palace to react by scoring first in the 31st minute of the second half and then obtaining a penalty, which was converted by his teammate Michael Olise in the 50th minute.

Before that, City had scored with Jack Grealish, 24 minutes into the first half, and Rico Lewis, nine minutes into the second half.

Manchester City remains in fourth place, one point behind Aston Villa, who have 35, and two behind Arsenal, who occupy second place. Both will face each other this Sunday (17), for the 17th round.

Leaders Liverpool will also play on Sunday, hosting Manchester United — in seventh place — at Anfield. In case of victory, Jürgen Klopp’s team would reach 40 points and increase their advantage over City to six points.

Bournemouth scare

In addition to the results, the other news of the day in English football was the incident that occurred in the game between Bournemouth and Luton, which led to the definitive interruption of the match while the score was 1-1.

Luton captain Tom Lockyer collapsed 15 minutes into the second half after suffering a cardiac arrest, recalling a similar scene experienced by the team in the Premier League playoff final last season.

The players returned to the dressing room while the 29-year-old defender was attended to by medical services. The match was definitively stopped.

Lockyer is “stable”, his club explained in a statement. “Our medical team confirmed that the Hatters captain suffered a cardiac arrest on the field, but was responsive at the time of being taken off,” Luton wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

He was taken to hospital and the club wanted to “reassure the fans”, highlighting that he was “stable” and that he was undergoing “other medical tests”.

Lockyer had collapsed in May at Wembley in a clash between Luton and Coventry. After that, he underwent a cardiac intervention.

Chelsea reacts and beats Sheffield

In Saturday’s other games, Chelsea’s reaction stands out after two consecutive defeats. Mauricio Pochettino’s team beat bottom side Sheffield United 2-0, which took the Londoners to tenth place.

Chelsea’s victory came with goals from Cole Palmer, in the ninth minute of the second half, and Nicolas Jackson, in the 16th minute, against a team that has just eight points this season.

Chelsea were coming off two defeats; for Manchester United, 2-1, and for Everton, 2-0.

French striker Christopher Nkunku, who injured his knee during pre-season, was on the bench for the first time, but did not take the field.

Newcastle, in sixth place, got their smile back after their elimination from the Champions League this week and beat Fulham 3-0, with goals from Lewis Miley, Miguel Almirón and Dan Burn, all in the second half.

Fulham played most of the match with one player less due to Raúl Jiménez being sent off in the 22nd minute.