English Premier League
Result: Manchester City 2-0 Cardiff City
Date: 03 April 2019
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Manchester City moved one point clear of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table after comfortably seeing off Cardiff City on Wednesday evening.
Even without Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling, the Citizens broke the deadlock on six minutes as Aymeric Laporte slipped in Kevin de Bruyne who scored from a tight angle.
The hosts were forced into a change after 17 minutes when full-back Oleksander Zinchenko picked up what looked to be a hamstring injury. He was replaced by Kyle Walker.
Cardiff, meanwhile, sat quite deep behind the ball as expected with the hope of trying to catch the Citizens on the break, however they were let down by their decision-making when they did managed to get into the final third.
City eventually bagged a second goal before the halftime break as Gabriel Jesus turned provider to tee up Leroy Sane, who sent a fine volley into the far corner from the edge of the box.
Pep Guardiola's troops picked up from where they left off in the first as De Bruyne and Sane continued to cause havoc in the opposition third, with the former going close with an effort from distance just before the hour.
Cardiff had goalkeeper Neil Etheridge to thank for keeping the home side at bay as he produced a couple fine saves to keep out Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden just before 70 minutes.
The visitors had a chance to set up a nervy ending when Oumar Niasse raced through on goal, but the forward, on loan from Everton, was denied by Ederon with four minutes remaining.
In the end, City managed to see out the remaining stages with relative ease to claim three points and move to the summit of the table.
