Man City condemn damage caused to Liverpool’s team bus

Manchester City have condemned the actions of individuals responsible for causing damage to Liverpool's team bus on their return journey after Saturday's Premier League clash at the Etihad.

City, who won the game 4-1, said an object was thrown towards the bus in a residential area.

Greater Manchester Police said they had launched an investigation after reports of criminal damage and said there were no injuries, adding that the bus continued with its journey.

“Incidents of this kind are totally unacceptable, and we strongly condemn the actions of the individual(s) responsible,” City, the reigning league champions, said.

“We will fully support Greater Manchester Police's investigation into this incident in any way we can.”

City also said the club were disappointed to have heard “inappropriate chants” from their fans during the game.

“We regret any offence these chants may have caused and will continue to work with supporter groups and officials from both clubs to eradicate hateful chanting from this fixture,” they said.

In another action-packed day in the Premier League on Saturday City thumped Liverpool even without goal machine Erling Haaland, but Arsenal took another step towards a first title in nearly 20 years as they matched the champions with a 4-1 win over Leeds United.

While the title race gathered pace on the resumption of the top-flight after the international break, the relegation battle becomes more intriguing by the week with Leicester City the latest side to fall into the bottom three.

In the day's late kickoff Chelsea dropped into the bottom half of the table after losing 2-0 at home to Aston Villa.

With Haaland, who has scored 42 goals in 37 matches in all competitions for City, sidelined with a groin injury, his side looked in big trouble when Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool an early lead at The Etihad Stadium.

But Pep Guardiola's side responded in emphatic fashion with Julian Alvarez levelling before half time.

Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish were all on target in the second half as City dismantled Juergen Klopp's side whose hopes of a top-four finish suffered another blow as they ended the day in eighth place.

It meant City had cut Arsenal's lead to five points before the Gunners kicked off but any hopes they had of ending the weekend closer to the Londoners were dashed as their former forward Gabriel Jesus got back on the scoresheet.

Jesus, given his first league start since returning from a knee injury last month, fired in a first-half penalty against Leeds for his first goal for six months.

Ben White made it 2-0 just after the break and Jesus then grabbed his second of the day from a Leandro Trossard assist.

Rasmus Kristensen's deflected shot gave Leeds a 76th-minute lifeline but Granit Xhaka's header secured another three points in Arsenal's quest for a first title since 2004.

Arsenal's seventh successive league win moved them to 72 points from 29 games with City, who still have to play the London club at home, on 64 having played one game less.

“What we can control is what we can do. After the international break there was a few tricky situations to manage but everybody wanted to be involved,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said.

Roy Hodgson's latest return from retirement sparked some life into Crystal Palace as they claimed their first win in 2023 by beating Leicester 2-1 at Selhurst Park.

The 75-year-old Hodgson has returned to take charge after a 12-match winless run cost Patrick Vieira his job.

Pressure is intensifying on Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers as his side lost for the fifth time in six league games.

Bournemouth climbed out of the bottom three as Marcus Tavernier and Dominic Solanke were both on target in a 2-1 victory over Fulham who had led through Andreas Pereira.

Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers drew 1-1 at the City Ground as both clubs stayed far too close to the relegation zone for comfort.

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