Man City defeat Sheffield United to go third

Manchester City eased past Sheffield United to move up to third in the table thanks to goals in each half from Rodri and Julian Alvarez.

The champions were in control from the first minute to the last at the Etihad Stadium and secured their first back-to-back wins since the start of November that took them two points off the leaders Liverpool, who play on Monday.

Man City made two changes from Wednesday’s win at Everton, with Josko Gvardiol coming in for the injured John Stones while Mateo Kovacic replaced Matheus Nunes.

Kevin De Bruyne was also named on the bench after recovering from a hamstring injury that kept him out of action since the opening weekend.

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Chris Wilder made five changes to the defeat to Luton Town. Anel Ahmedhodzic, James McAtee, Gustavo Hamer, Oliver McBurnie and Cameron Archer were replaced by Jayden Bogle, Oliver Norwood, Luke Thomas, Anis Ben Slimane and William Osula.

City made a dominant start and took a deserved lead in the 14th minute as Rodri produced a fine shot from range into the bottom-left corner after driving through Sheff Utd’s midfield for his fourth goal of the season.

It is also the second time the Spaniard has scored against Sheff Utd this season, having got the 88th-minute winner in the reverse fixture.

Opportunities were at a premium for Sheff Utd but they did fashion a half-chance through Osula, who controlled Jayden Bogle’s cross before seeing his effort deflected behind by Manuel Akanji.

City then put the contest to bed in the 61st minute when Julian Alvarez scored a tap-in at the far post after being set up by Phil Foden as the Argentinian scored his fourth goal in his last three matches in all competitions.

Sheff Utd barely threatened City’s goal as they only produced four shots in the entire match. They remain rooted to the bottom of the table with nine points from 20 matches.