Foden goal takes Man City six points clear at top of Premier League

Manchester City moved six points clear at the top of the Premier League but only after a hard-fought 1-0 victory over stubborn Everton at Goodison Park.

Frank Lampard’s side defended resolutely for more than 80 minutes but a deflection to a Bernardo Silva cross left Michael Keane flat-footed and Phil Foden pounced on the Everton defender’s lack of control to finish from close range.

Moments later there was controversy when the ball appeared to spin up and hit Rodri on the arm as he went to clear in the box, but after a lengthy VAR check no penalty was given.

City held on to go six points clear of Liverpool, who have a game in hand but are not playing in the league this weekend as they face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. Defeat leaves Everton just one point above the relegation zone.

Ukraine internationals Vitaliy Mykolenko and Oleksandr Zinchenko were unused substitutes for Everton and City respectively, with both sets of players showing their solidarity prior to kick-off.

Newcastle continued their climb away from trouble with a 2-0 win at 10-man Brentford – a game which saw Christian Eriksen make his long-awaited return to action.

The Magpies took full advantage after VAR advised Mike Dean to head to the pitchside monitor 11 minutes in, with Josh Dasilva sent off for a reckless challenge on Matt Targett.

Twenty minutes later, Joelinton headed in Ryan Fraser’s cross, and Joe Willock made it 2-0 as he capped a swift counter-attack just before half-time.

Eriksen came on to make his Brentford debut in the second half, 259 days after collapsing while playing for Denmark at Euro 2020, but he could not change the course of the match.

The result sees Newcastle move above the Bees in the table, with Eddie Howe’s