City beats Palace 2-0, moves closer to clinching PL title

<p>LONDON &mdash; Manchester City moved within three points of reclaiming the Premier League title by beating Crystal Palace 2-0 on Saturday thanks to goals from Sergio Aguero and Ferran Torres, players at the opposite ends of their careers at the club.</p>
<p>Aguero, who is leaving City at the end of the season after 10 years, scored his record-extending 258th goal for the club by controlling a pass from Benjamin Mendy and powering a shot off his laces into the roof of the net in the 57th minute.</p>
<p>Just 84 seconds later, Torres scored the 10th goal of the 21-year-old Spain winger’s debut season at City by curling home a low, left-footed finish from the edge of the area.</p>
<p>It was a one-two blow by Pep Guardiola’s heavily rotated team — due to the game coming between the two legs of the Champions League semifinal against Paris Saint-Germain — which took a while to get going at Selhurst Park but has left City on the brink of the title.</p>
<p>It could even be clinched as early as Sunday, if second-place Manchester United loses at home to Liverpool.</p>
<p>If United wins or draws at Old Trafford, the next opportunity to secure a third league crown in four years will come next Saturday when City hosts Chelsea.</p>
<p>The depth of Guardiola’s resources was highlighted by the fact that he rested most of his key players for the Palace game — Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Ruben Dias, Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden were among the unused substitutes — but could still name a front four of Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Torres.</p>
<p>None of them will likely start against PSG on Tuesday, with City going into the game leading 2-1 from Wednesday’s first leg.</p>
<p>It was the latest leg of Aguero’s farewell tour and he moved onto 182 Premier League goals, five behind third-place Andy Cole on the all-time list, with his first ever at Selhurst Park.</p>
<p>Torres’ goal was City’s 700th in Guardiola’s 288-game tenure.</p>
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