Manchester City

LONDON - A comfortable win at troubled Tottenham Hotspur and then a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired escape from defeat at the hands of Atalanta have taken some of the heat off under-pressure Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But a more severe test of his side's health will come this Saturday when they host Premier League champions Manchester City in the derby — a game fraught with danger for a United side that has been wildly unpredictable this season.

Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha has been subjected to racist abuse online and the 28-year-old shared screenshots of some of the comments after Saturday's 2-0 Premier League win over Manchester City.

Zaha, who scored the opening goal of the game at the Etihad Stadium, was brought down by Aymeric Laporte which resulted in the City defender receiving a straight red card in first-half stoppage time.

Liverpool and Manchester City stood toe-to-toe at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, exchanging haymakers and glorious bits of skill in an end-to-end classic that ended 2-2 after an exchange of four second-half goals. 

City carved the best opportunities of the first half with Phil Foden tormenting stand-in right back James Milner and Bernardo Silva at his freakish best. This dribble from Silva in the 20th minute deserved a finish from Foden. 

Manchester City looked like a world beater in its first Champions League match of the season, the type of team that can score at will, whenever it wants. Match Day 2 was a different story for Pep Guardiola’s side, and the Bernardo Silva miss vs PSG may haunt the Citizens if they’re unable to claim first place in Group A.

It was billed as the most expensive football match in the world — the $1.10 billion squad value of PSG against the $1.16 billion of Manchester City. There was also the subplot of the most expensive transfer of the summer, City’s Jack Grealish at $135.5 million, versus PSG’s acquisitions of Lionel Messi, Georginio Wijnaldum, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Achraf Hakimi. All five started.  

PARIS - Lionel Messi's sensational transfer to Paris St Germain was a surprise for everyone, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said, adding that he hopes the Argentine plays in Tuesday's Champions League group game between the two sides.

Messi joined PSG in August when he left Barcelona after the Spanish club — where he had spent his entire career — were unable to finance a new deal for the forward.

The 34-year-old suffered a knock on his left knee last week and is a doubt for the clash against the team led by his former Barça coach Guardiola.

LONDON - Kim Little scored twice for Arsenal as they trounced an injury-depleted Manchester City 5-0 on Sunday with a classic counter-attacking display to climb to the top of the Women's Super League (WSL).

Samir Nasri, now 34 and without a club since briefly playing for Vincent Kompany’s Anderlecht in 2019, has announced his retirement after a mercurial career that included two Premier League titles, 41 caps for France, an international retirement at the age of 27 and one trip to the Drip Doctors in Los Angeles.

LONDON — An second-half goal from Gabriel Jesus earned Premier League champions Manchester City a deserved 1-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday and inflicted a first defeat of the season on Thomas Tuchel's side.

Jesus pushed the ball home with a deflection off Jorginho after a goalmouth melee in the 53rd minute following City's 10th corner of the game. It was the game's first shot on target.

The goal sparked the match into life, forcing Chelsea to attack, after a first half of intense pressure from City and attritional defending from the home side.