Real Madrid, beware. Manchester City has rediscovered its scoring form ahead of the teams’ blockbuster showdown in the Champions League quarterfinals.
City hit four goals for the second straight game in the English Premier League, this time overwhelming Crystal Palace 4-2 to stretch its unbeaten streak in all competitions to four months and stay on the shoulder of first-placed Liverpool in the title race.
Best of all for City, Erling Haaland is back among the goals.
And Kevin De Bruyne is back scoring screamers.
City recovered from conceding in the third minute to cruise to victory at Selhurst Park, with De Bruyne equalizing with a curling shot that was so exquisite that Pep Guardiola blew kisses to the Belgium playmaker.
After Rico Lewis put City ahead in the 47th, Haaland scored his first goal in four games for City to earn De Bruyne his latest assist. De Bruyne then buried a left-footed piledriver for his second goal to finish off Palace.
“Kevin won the game,” Guardiola said. “Without Kevin today, maybe we would not be able to win, so when we talk about tactics, about managers, having players like Kevin in these kinds of games, it’s easy.
“The numbers, the presence, the consistency have been amazing. He’s one of the best players in the history of Manchester City.”
City moved level on points with Liverpool, whose game in hand is at Manchester United on Sunday. Third-placed Arsenal was two points behind and could go top overnight by beating Brighton away in the late game.
City struggled to create chances in a 0-0 draw against Arsenal last weekend that proved to be a setback in its attempt to win the league for a fourth straight season — a feat never achieved in English soccer’s 135-year history.
Since then, City has beaten Aston Villa 4-1 and won at Palace.
VILLA WOBBLE
Villa is stumbling in its bid to secure the fourth guaranteed spot for Champions League qualification.
With a 3-3 draw at home to Brentford, fourth-placed Villa has won just one of its last five league games and was just three points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham, which hosts Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
The league could yet have five entrants for next season’s Champions League, however, depending on how English clubs perform in the European competitions this campaign.
Ollie Watkins scored two goals for Villa, which was 2-0 up before conceding three goals in a nine-minute span in the second half. Watkins’ second goal made it 3-3 in the 80th.
EUROPEAN SPOTS
Newcastle and West Ham claimed wins as they hunt qualification for next season’s Europa League.
Bruno Guimaraes’ second-half goal earned Newcastle a 1-0 victory at Fulham and West Ham came from behind to beat Wolverhampton 2-1 thanks to goals by Lucas Paqueta and James Ward-Prowse.
West Ham is in seventh place, tied on points with Manchester United in sixth. Newcastle is a point and a place further back.
RELEGATION BATTLE
Everton ended its 13-game winless run by beating Burnley 1-0 to boost its fight to avoid relegation.
Everton was still just four points above the relegation zone because third-from-bottom Luton also won, 2-1 at home to Bournemouth thanks to Carlton Morris’ 90th-minute goal.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored Everton’s winner by charging down a clearance from Burnley goalkeeper Arijanet Muric and seeing the goal loop into an unguarded net.
Everton’s most recent win had been against Burnley on Dec. 16 at Turf Moor.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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