IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
After bagging the League Cup, being locked in a titanic battle with Liverpool for the Premier League title and in the Champions League quarter-finals, Pep Guardiola's side remain on course for an unprecedented clean sweep.
Images from Saturday's Premier League action.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
ManchesterCity could be without playmaker David Silva for Saturday's home game against Bournemouth while midfielder Ilkay Guendogan may make his Premier League debut.
Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola had predicted there was nothing he could do to contain the sublime talent of Lionel Messi during their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona on Wednesday -- and he was proved right.
Yaya Toure has been left out of Manchester City's Champions League squad by coach Pep Guardiola, further undermining the Ivorian's position at the club. Toure, a mainstay of the City midfield since joining from Guardiola's Barcelona in 2010, has failed to start any of the club's opening three Premier League matches. He has only played once this season, in the second leg of the Champions League playoff tie against Steaua Bucharest, when they already had a 5-0 lead from the first encounter.
Beat Mexico's Tigres 1-0 to win their sixth title.
Claudio Bravo was pictured leaving Barcelona Airport on Tuesday and his expected move to Manchester City is likely to trigger the departure of England goalkeeper Joe Hart. The 33-year-old Bravo is set for a medical this week at the Etihad Stadium where he will team up again with Pep Guardiola, his former manager at Barca. The Spanish champions said on Saturday they had reached a "preliminary agreement with City" for the sale of the Chile captain.
Barring a monumental collapse Manchester City will win at least two trophies this season, but former England captain Alan Shearer believes European bragging rights are what the club's Abu Dhabi owners crave most.
The dynasty will only be built on European success, though, and after the quarter-final exit to Liverpool, Manchester City's owners, who want a gilded continental powerhouse to match United's global lustre, will demand it and back those demands with huge funding.
Manchester City cannot afford another defeat on Tuesday at home to Barcelona, who thumped them 4-0 two weeks ago, having taken just one point from their last two Champions League Group C matches.
The Champions League quarter-final between Liverpool and Manchester City is one of the most anticipated games of the season pitting the Premier League's runaway leaders against the top scorers in Europe's elite competition.
The loss was the joint-heaviest defeat by a side already crowned Premier League champions. Arsenal were beaten 4-0 at Liverpool in 1997-98 in the game after they clinched the title.
Five facts about Tito Vilanova, who will take over as Barcelona coach from Pep Guardiola at the end of the season.
"After feeling strange in the second half of the Burton game in September, I underwent a series of tests," he said.
Among other transfer news globally, defender Rahul Bheke joins Mumbai City FC while Locatelli completes Juventus move.
Liverpool raised the bar so high and enjoyed such a huge winning margin in claiming the English Premier League title last season it would be churlish to doubt their credentials for a repeat showing.
Leroy Sane struck the winner as Manchester City beat Liverpool 2-1 in a gripping English Premier League clash.
News that transpired on and off the football field.
Manchester City moved 11 points clear at the top of the English Premier League after a last-gasp goal from Rodri gave them a 2-1 victory at fourth-placed Arsenal on Saturday in a controversy packed game at the Emirates stadium.
A round-up of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
This time Liverpool are at home, and victory would put them nine points clear.
Finances aside, though, there is an even bigger question mark hanging over Lionel Messi. Is he a fading force?
Manchester City came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw with Liverpool in a breathless and pulsating Premier League encounter, at Anfield, on Sunday. All four goals came in the second half.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has promised to show plenty of restraint and respect if he inflicts a first Premier League defeat of the season on his former side Chelsea on Saturday.
Lionel Messi is 34 goals short of becoming Barcelona's all-time top scorer after netting a hat-trick in the Champions League on Tuesday, and the only real question left is when he will achieve that accolade and not if.
Pep Guardiola's appointment at the high-flying Premier League club is certainly ill-timed, argues Bikash Mohapatra.
The 37-year-old Mikel Arteta played for Arsenal from 2011 to 2016 before moving to Manchester City as assistant manager, where he won the Premier League twice.
Manchester City's Premier League title hopes were delivered a grievous blow on Sunday as Everton's inspired Romelu Lukaku and teenagers Tom Davies and Ademola Lookman made it another crushing afternoon for Pep Guardiola.
Images from EPL matches played on Wednesday.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp is not about to change his team's trademark style against Champions League quarter-final opponent
Manchester City barely got out of second gear as they easily beat bottom club Huddersfield Town to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to four points on Sunday.
Van Dijk was substituted early in the game when Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made a reckless challenge in the box, which left Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp fuming.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Chelsea paid a heavy price for a 3-2 defeat at West Ham United as first Liverpool, then Manchester City, leapfrogged them in the English Premier League title race on Saturday, with City ending the day on top for the first time this season.
City will look to extend lead against United at Old Trafford
The following are three talking points from the weekend's Premier League action:
Yaya Toure's agent says the Manchester City midfielder plans to stay and fight for his place despite being left out of their first game of the season. The Ivorian, who played under new manager Pep Guardiola when the pair were at Barcelona, was omitted for Saturday's narrow 2-1 win over Sunderland in City's Premier League opener.
