Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan scored a superb double to help his side to a 3-0 victory over Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday – and take them to within one win of retaining their title.
The German midfielder produced a wonderful piece of improvisation to put City ahead in the 37th minute. With his back to goal, he controlled a ball sent into the box with his thigh before flicking it behind him past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and into the net.
Gundogan then produced a pinpoint cross for Erling Haaland to head home City's second, which was the Norwegian's 36th Premier League goal of the season and his 52nd in all competitions, two minutes later.
Then, just after half-time, City were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the Everton penalty and Gundogan stepped up to clip a perfect finish past Pickford for his fourth goal in two matches.
The victory lifted City four points clear of Arsenal at the top of the table with a game in hand after the Gunners lost 3-0 at the Emirates to Brighton in Sunday’s late kick-off.
Pep Guardiola’s side will seal their third title in a row by taking three points from their remaining games against Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford.
Next up for City in their bid to secure a famous treble is the Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday. The first leg finished 1-1 in Spain.
“Between the Champions League semis it’s difficult here after Everton scored five against Brighton,” said City manager Pep Guardiola.
“From minute one we took the game in our hands. It was a brilliant performance at the end of a season. We need two more victories to be champions. Step by step recovery.
“They defended deep. Their transitions are amazing. They are the best team by far in transitions in the league. We controlled the game. We were patient and attacked the spaces.
“Gundogan arriving in the box is amazing. Really, really important.
“Every time we win you bring energy for the next game. We are recovering well.
“Semi-final of the Champions League against Real Madrid at home, what can you say? I said to the players try to relax and just do what you have done for the last four or five years.”
Everton, meanwhile, remain deep in relegation trouble sitting one place and one point outside the bottom three. The Merseysiders have now lost 10 home matches in a single league campaign for the first time.
Sean Dyche's side travel to Wolves next Saturday before taking on Bournemouth at home on the final day of the season.
The sight of injury-prone striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin being replaced at half-time would have been of some concern to Everton, who are now relying on neighbours Liverpool to do them a favour and prevent them falling into the bottom three by denying 19th-placed Leicester victory on Monday.
The worst-case scenario would be facing those two matches without the England international, who, despite only one goal in five games since returning from two and half months out with a hamstring injury, has provided a much-needed focal point.
The hosts came flying out of the blocks, roared on by a home crowd more in hope than expectation.
However, despite the impressive work-rate of the likes of Dwight McNeil, it was mostly all bluff and bluster as their only real opportunity came in the 34th minute when Mason Holgate blazed over a difficult chance from four yards from James Tarkowski's knock-down.
Less than three minutes later City were ahead and within seven they had doubled their advantage, with Gundogan at the heart of both goals.
When Riyad Mahrez flicked over a right-wing cross the Germany international took a delicate touch on his thigh before instantly hooking a shot over his shoulder with the outside of his right foot, which took marker Nathan Patterson and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford by surprise.
Haaland's goal was more rudimentary as Gundogan pounced on Patterson's weak header to cross for the Norwegian to leap higher than makeshift left-back Holgate, in for the injured Vitalii Mykolenko, to head home. It was only his third touch of the game.
When Gundogan curled home a free-kick after James Garner brought down Phil Foden in the 51st minute it effectively put paid to Everton's already slim chances of staging an unlikely recovery.
Dyche said: “I thought we were excellent for 30 minutes but they showed what a class side they are. They were slow in passing it in front of us, which was fine by us. But they changed their game plan and went longer.
“They picked up the scraps and capitalised on it. They showed what a top side they are because they can score goals in different ways.”
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Omar Yabroudi's factfile
Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah
Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University
2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship
2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy
2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment
2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment
2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager
Series information
Pakistan v Dubai
First Test, Dubai International Stadium
Sun Oct 6 to Thu Oct 11
Second Test, Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tue Oct 16 to Sat Oct 20
Play starts at 10am each day
Teams
Pakistan
1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Bilal Asif, 9 Yasir Shah, 10, Mohammed Abbas, 11 Wahab Riaz or Mir Hamza
Australia
1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jon Holland
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
THE SPECS
Range Rover Sport Autobiography Dynamic
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 518bhp
Torque: 625Nm
Speed: 0-100kmh 5.3 seconds
Price: Dh633,435
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Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20WonderTree%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20April%202016%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Muhammad%20Waqas%20and%20Muhammad%20Usman%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Karachi%2C%20Pakistan%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%2C%20and%20Delaware%2C%20US%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Special%20education%2C%20education%20technology%2C%20assistive%20technology%2C%20augmented%20reality%3Cbr%3EN%3Cstrong%3Eumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E16%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGrowth%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Grants%20from%20the%20Lego%20Foundation%2C%20UAE's%20Anjal%20Z%2C%20Unicef%2C%20Pakistan's%20Ignite%20National%20Technology%20Fund%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Suarez 27', Vidal 32', Dembele 35', Messi 78')
Sevilla 0
Red cards: Ronald Araujo, Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
Arrogate's winning run
1. Maiden Special Weight, Santa Anita Park, June 5, 2016
2. Allowance Optional Claiming, Santa Anita Park, June 24, 2016
3. Allowance Optional Claiming, Del Mar, August 4, 2016
4. Travers Stakes, Saratoga, August 27, 2016
5. Breeders' Cup Classic, Santa Anita Park, November 5, 2016
6. Pegasus World Cup, Gulfstream Park, January 28, 2017
7. Dubai World Cup, Meydan Racecourse, March 25, 2017
