In his 500th game in charge of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola had some reasons to smile again.
City marked Guardiola's milestone with a win and a goal from Erling Haaland — things that the Spaniard used to take for granted but have been increasingly rare of late for the struggling four-time defending Premier League champions.
Savinho also netted his first goal for the club in a much-needed 2-0 win over Leicester on Sunday, although the team still looked far from the juggernaut that has dominated English soccer for much of the Spaniard’s reign.
Leicester had several chances for an equalizer before Savinho set up Haaland for the second in the 74th as City ended a five-game winless run in all competitions.
It was far from a vintage City performance but perhaps it could mark the start of a turnaround for a team that is enduring the worst run of results in Guardiola’s nine years at the helm.
So it was a visibly relieved Guardiola who walked onto the pitch to hug his players and applaud the away fans after taking his tally to 362 wins in his 500 games — along with 18 trophies.
“Just relief, that is the word to express how all of us feel," Guardiola said. “It was not the ideal performance but hopefully the victories will give our mood a better position. ... Hopefully in the new year we can bounce back a bit from a bad moment.”
This was only the club's second win in 14 games in all competitions, and the team is 11 points behind leader Liverpool having played two games more. And even against a team mired in the relegation zone, City was pegged back for much of the second half until Haaland's header ended Leicester's resistance.
Savinho put the team ahead in the 21st minute by pouncing on the rebound after Phil Foden drove forward and tried a low shot from distance that Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk pushed to the side. The ball fell into the path of the onrushing Savinho, who lifted it over the goalkeeper and into the net.
The winger then turned provider by lifting a perfect cross into the box for Haaland to head home the second, shortly after Jamie Vardy had missed a good chance for a Leicester equalizer.
The English league table is starting to have a 1979 kind of feel to it.
Nottingham Forest climbed provisionally up to second place behind Liverpool with a 2-0 win over Everton to continue its surprising push for a Champions League place.
Forest finished second behind Liverpool in 1979 – the same year it won the first of two straight European Cups under Brian Clough – but hasn’t finished that high in the domestic first division since then.
The club’s long-suffering fans finally have reason to believe that the good times are back under manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
Chris Wood put Forest ahead against Everton with a delicate lob in the 15th minute after linking up with Anthony Elanga on a quick counterattack, and then set up Morgan Gibbs-White to double the lead in the 61st.
The win puts Forest one point above Arsenal and two ahead of Chelsea, although both London clubs have a game in hand.
Tottenham's roller-coaster of a season had another downturn as Spurs conceded a late equalizer to draw 2-2 at home against Wolves.
Ange Postecoglou has come under increasing criticism of late because of his team's all-attacking style of play and the team's defensive vulnerabilities were on display again as Jorgen Strand Larsen was afforded space to beat Fraser Forster at his near post in the 87th minute.
Wolves had taken the lead through Hwang Hee-chan after a well-worked free kick routine in the seventh minute, but Rodrigo Bentancur equalized five minutes later and Brennan Johnson gave Tottenham the lead on the stroke of halftime.
Substitute Dango Ouattara netted an even later equalizer for Bournemouth to draw 2-2 at Fulham, while Crystal Palace came from a goal down to beat last-place Southampton 2-1.
Liverpool was playing at West Ham in the late game.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
