Football: Guardiola focus on golf instead of gulf in points

Pep Guardiola was rapt to see Manchester City end Tottenham s 14-game unbeaten run with a 3-1 win at Wembley yesterday. Photo / AP

Rather than seeing if Manchester City won the English Premier League, Pep Guardiola was on a golf course.

The manager planned to be playing a round with son Marius overnight (NZT) when City would have been crowned champions in the unlikely event that bottom-placed West Bromwich Albion won at Manchester United.

"Will I hear the scores? Bogey, double-bogey, birdie," Guardiola said after a 3-1 victory at Tottenham yesterday.

Even if United didn't lose, City can still seal the trophy before playing again. That will be achieved by United losing at Bournemouth on Thursday or if Jose Mourinho's side draw with both West Brom and Bournemouth.

What is clear is City have their swagger back after a demoralising week that saw the leaders fail to seal top spot by losing the Manchester derby and exiting the Champions League.

City were 16 points in front of United with five games to go heading into last night's game after impressively inflicting fourth-placed Tottenham's second home loss of the season. And even if United win their next two games, City can secure their third title since 2012 by beating Swansea next Monday.

"People say it was a big failure, what happened last week, but they don't understand the reality of football," Guardiola said. "You can win the Champions League in seven games, the league is 10 months. I'm sorry; it's much more important what these guys have done this season. Hopefully we can celebrate with our fans against Swansea and be champions because they deserve it."

Gabriel Jesus, Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling scored in a commanding display that showed why City have 28 wins from 33 matches in the league.

Beating an English rival, though, proved beyond City in the Champions League - going out in the quarter-finals to Liverpool on Wednesday.

Juergen Klopp's third-placed side look set to seal a place in the continent's top competition even if they don't lift the European Cup after beating Bournemouth 3-0 to stay 10 points clear of fifth-placed champion Chelsea.

Mohamed Salah is now only the third Liverpool player to have scored 40 times in a season, and there's still a month to go. Liverpool have 121 goals in all competitions.

"What a number we scored as a team in the whole season, that's crazy," Klopp said. "That's really good but we have to carry on, there are a few games to come."

Tottenham are still in the fourth Champions League spot, although Chelsea closed the gap to seven points after coming from behind to beat Southampton 3-2.

By throwing away a two-goal lead, Southampton endangered their chances of avoiding the drop.

Crystal Palace and Huddersfield moved further clear of the drop zone with wins.

Wilfried Zaha scored twice as Palace beat Brighton 3-2 to move six points clear of Southampton, who are in the final relegation place.

Huddersfield were a point above Palace after Tom Ince's stoppage-time goal beat Watford 1-0.

Swansea moved five points ahead of Southampton after drawing with Everton 1-1.

Burnley's unlikely pursuit of a Europa League spot continued with a 2-1 victory over Leicester thanks to goals from All White Chris Wood and Kevin Long. Burnley are seventh, two points behind Arsenal, who played overnight at Newcastle.

Wolverhampton Wanderers will return to the Premier League next season after a six-year absence. Promotion was secured from the League Championship after Fulham drew with Brentford.

- AP