LONDON: Manchester United survived a tense finale to beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at the Hawthorns on Sunday and close to within 11 points of Premier League leaders Manchester City.

United’s former West Brom striker Romelu Lukaku scored his 15th goal of the season in the 27th minute by heading home Marcus Rashfords left-wing cross.

Midfielder Jesse Lingard doubled the lead with a deflected shot from the edge of the penalty area eight minutes later.

But what looked destined to be a comfortable win became tense when Gareth Barry prodded home a goal for the hosts following a corner in the 77th minute.

United hung on , however, to reclaim outright possession of second place after Chelsea moved level on points on Saturday after beating Southampton 1-0 thanks to Marcos Alonso’s free kick in first-half stoppage time.

The performance of Saturday, though, came from City who demolished Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 and leave the rest of the Premier League peering into the distance in search of Pep Guardiola’s record-breaking team.

Tottenham, who began the day fourth, were supposed to provide a proper test but, just like City’s previous 15 opponents, were outclassed as goals by Ilkay Gundogan before halftime and Kevin de Bruyne and two from Raheem Sterling.

With the title race turning into a lengthy coronation for City, it would be easy for the leaders to take their eye off the ball, but they were always in control against a Tottenham team who once again flopped in an away game against top-six opponents.

Germany midfielder Gundogan put City in front in the 14th minute with a stooping header from Leroy Sane’s cross.

De Bruyne made it two with a blistering finish from Gundogan’s pass in the 70th minute.

Gabriel Jesus squandered a chance to make it three when the City forward hit the post with a penalty awarded for Jan Vertonghen’s foul on De Bruyne.

But Sterling scored with an 80th minute tap-in and then punished a mistake by Tottenham’s Eric Dier to claim his 15th goal of the season.

Christian Eriksen’s stoppage-time goal for Tottenham couldn’t take the gloss off another City masterclass.

“We played really good to beat one of the strongest teams in the Premier League,” Guardiola said. “Since August we are so happy and I admire the most the way we play without the ball. We are on a good streak.”

City’s 16th successive win took them to 52 points, one game short of the halfway point of the season.

Mesut Ozil’s stunning strike fired Arsenal to a 1-0 success against Newcastle United that lifted the Gunners to fourth with 33 points, five points behind Chelsea, while Burnley are fifth, a further point back, after a 0-0 draw at Brighton and Hove Albion for whom Glenn Murray missed a penalty.

Tottenham tumbled down to seventh behind Liverpool on goal difference.

There were two big movers at the bottom with Crystal Palace winning 3-0 at Leicester City and West Ham United doing the same at Stoke City to move out of the relegation zone into 14th and 15th places respectively. Stoke are 17th.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2017