Manchester City close to title as Aguero strikes away to Crystal Palace
LONDON - Manchester City will be crowned Premier League champions on Sunday if Manchester United loses at home to Liverpool after two goals in two minutes gave Pep Guardiola's side a 2-0 win away to Crystal Palace.
Guardiola made sweeping changes to the side that beat Paris Saint Germain 2-1 away from home in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Wednesday, with players such as Ruben Dias, Kevin de Bruyne, and Phil Foden among those rested.
However, the fact he could bring Aymeric Laporte, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, and Kun Aguero into his side showed the depth of resources at his disposal and it was Aguero, playing one of his last games for the club, who opened the scoring in the 57th minute as City finally broke down Palace's organized resistance.
It was Aguero's 274th Premier League goal for the club and his first from open play in 12 months, and the game was as good as over two minutes later when Jesus and Sterling combined for Ferran Torres to double City's lead.
Brighton eased their relegation fears with a 2-0 win at home to Leeds United thanks to goals from Pascual Gross and Danny Welbeck. Gross settled Brighton's nerves from the penalty spot after just 14 minutes after Welbeck had been fouled and the former Manchester United and Arsenal forward assured the win himself with Brighton's second goal 11 minutes from time.
That win lifted Brighton 10 points clear of third from bottom Fulham whose hopes of survival all but disappeared after they lost 2-0 away to Chelsea, who remained fourth on the table two points behind Leicester City.
Kai Havertz opened the scoring after receiving a pass from Mason Mount in the 10th minute and the German scored his second of the game in the 49th minute after swapping passes with Timo Werner.
Aston Villa won 2-1 away to Everton thanks to an opening goal from Ollie Watkins and although that was soon canceled out by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, El Ghazi sealed the win for the visitors with a curling shot 10 minutes from time. Although it was Villa's first shot on target in the second half, it saw justice done after they had seen two efforts bounce off the woodwork in the first half.
