England. — Manchester City’s title-winning campaign reached new heights as a 4-1 victory at West Ham saw them smash through the 100-goal mark en route to a record-equalling 30th win.

Leroy Sane opened the scoring for the visitors at the London Stadium with a deflected 13th-minute strike before a calamitous Pablo Zabaleta own goal in the 27th minute saw City become the first club in Premier League history to hit a century of goals in two seasons.

Aaron Cresswell halved the deficit on 42 minutes with a sumptuous free-kick, but goals from Gabriel Jesus (53) and Fernandinho (64) saw City re-establish control and equal their highest goals tally in a Premier League campaign.

City need just one win and two more goals from their remaining three games to set the record for the most wins in a Premier League season and to surpass Chelsea’s record goals tally of 103.

West Ham remain 15th in the table, three points clear of the relegation zone, after a defeat which leaves boss David Moyes with three games to secure their top-flight status.

With survival yet to be secured, the Hammers were cautious in the opening exchanges but their reluctance to go after the champions proved costly as Sane’s curling effort took a wicked deflection off Patrice Evra on its way past a stricken Adrian in the home goal.

That kicked West Ham into gear as Manuel Lanzini drew a save from Ederson, but City were soon two to the good as a Declan Rice error, for the second week running, saw him turn the ball into the back of the net off former City defender Zabaleta.

The linesman came to Ederson’s rescue on 39 minutes when Marko Arnautovic’s effort was ruled out for a foul on the City ‘keeper as he dithered in possession in his area, but West Ham soon found the net.

That hope was extinguished within eight minutes of the restart, though, as Jesus released Raheem Sterling in behind before gathering the England forward’s cross, skipping inside Zabaleta and firing past Adrian from close range.

After Ilkay Gundogan’s foul on Edimilson Fernandes was incorrectly adjudged to have been outside the area, Cresswell whipped the resulting free-kick over the City wall to give West Ham hope before half-time.

An apparent blatant foul by Cresswell on Sterling in the area went unpunished on 58 minutes, but City wrapped up their victory when Fernandinho converted their fourth on 64 minutes from Sterling’s precise cross.

An apparent blatant foul by Cresswell on Sterling in the area went unpunished on 58 minutes, but City wrapped up their victory when Fernandinho converted their fourth on 64 minutes from Sterling’s precise cross.

Mean while, Marouane Fellaini’s injury-time header gave Manchester United a 2-1 win over a weakened Arsenal at Old Trafford on Super Sunday.

Substitute Fellaini popped up in the 91st minute with a well-directed header from Ashley Young’s left-wing cross to give Jose Mourinho the points over rival Arsene Wenger, who was leading Arsenal in his last game at Old Trafford.

Paul Pogba had given United the lead (16) from close range, but former United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan levelled after the break (51) with a neatly-placed low effort from the edge of the box.

Arsenal nearly held on, but the result means United are guaranteed a top-four finish in the Premier League, and need just four points from their last three games to secure second place.

Arsenal are sixth, three points above seventh-placed Burnley with a game in hand, but the defeat confirms they cannot reach the top four, and will finish below north London rivals Tottenham for the second successive season.

Wenger made seven changes ahead of the Europa League semi-final second leg on Thursday at Atletico Madrid, giving Konstantinos Mavropanos his debut in defence.

After Wenger was handed a gift by Sir Alex Ferguson before kick-off, United got back to business on the pitch and were ahead on 16 minutes through Pogba.

Alexis Sanchez saw his header from point-blank range superbly diverted onto the post by Hector Bellerin, but Pogba was on hand to poke into the empty net from three yards.

In what was a competitive first half, Mkhitaryan came close to equalising against his former club moments after the opener, but dragged inches wide of the far post from 20 yards after Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ backheel.

But after Romelu Lukaku was taken off injured after the break, Mkhitaryan made it second-time lucky, striking through the legs of Victor Lindelof and into the bottom corner from 20 yards. — SkySports

 

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