Premier League Wrap: Match-winner Mahrez lifts gloom for stricken De Bruyne

London, March 2: Riyad Mahrez scored decisively to sink Bournemouth but Manchester City's second consecutive 1-0 win in the Premier League came at a cost.

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City are back at the top of the table, with Liverpool needing to address a two-point deficit in Sunday's Merseyside derby at Everton after Mahrez snuck in his 11th goal of the season 10 minutes into the second half at the Vitality Stadium.

Yet the Algeria winger was only on the field because Kevin De Bruyne suffered the latest setback of an injury-ruined season.

Eddie Howe's hosts remain 12th after a far more robust showing than in their 5-1 loss at Arsenal in midweek, but they offered little attacking threat from their disciplined 5-4-1 setup.

David Silva shot wastefully wide from De Bruyne's 19th-minute cross, although the Belgium midfielder's half would end in dejection.

An audacious overhead kick from centre-back Nicolas Otamendi was the next closest City came to finding an opener before the interval – demonstrating how effectively Bournemouth restricted opponents who enjoyed 83 per cent possession in the opening 45 minutes.

The injury woes continued early in the second period for Guardiola, with John Stones lasting 47 minutes on his return before making way for Vincent Kompany and icing his thigh on the bench.

Mahrez eased frustrations of another kind in the away dugout when he drilled a shot under Artur Boruc after Silva worked possession into his path.

ROLLING ON!

🍒 0-1 🔵 #BOUMCI #mancity pic.twitter.com/mUAQHDXgsE

— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 2, 2019

Raheem Sterling came close to scoring in a seventh consecutive match against Bournemouth but drove into the side netting in the 64th minute.

The England winger then turned provider as Boruc held a stabbed shot from Sergio Aguero, who later rattled the bar with a speculative strike.

Bournemouth's goalkeeper hared out to deny Sterling inside the final quarter of an hour before preventing the match-winner Mahrez from heading his second.

What does it mean? Hard yards ahead in City's title defence

By the midway point at the Vitality Stadium, Manchester City had gone five completed halves of football, plus a period of extra-time, without scoring from open play. If the Premier League title is to be retained, the evidence of the past weeks shows Guardiola's normally free-flowing attacking machine will have to laboriously plug away at disciplined and determined defences not giving them an inch. Along with a mounting injury list, competing for honours on four fronts appears to have robbed some of City's star attackers of their sharpness.

Lukaku seals thrilling comeback

Two goals from Romelu Lukaku secured a thrilling 3-2 win for Manchester United over Southampton that lifts them back into the Premier League's top four.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side looked to be heading for a fourth home game in a row without a win in all competitions after James Ward-Prowse converted a superb free-kick.

United, who lost Alexis Sanchez to injury, had overturned Yan Valery's opener through Andreas Pereira and Lukaku only to see the lead slip away.

But Lukaku's emphatic finish in the 88th minute was enough for all three points, even though Paul Pogba missed an injury-time penalty.

Lukaku was twice denied by Angus Gunn in the first five minutes, although United's early rhythm was disrupted by treatment on a Scott McTominay head injury.

Jannik Vestergaard headed over when picked out unmarked from a corner, and Ryan Bertrand was angry not to win a penalty from a shirt pull by Chris Smalling.

Saints' increasing pressure told 26 minutes in, when Valery's ferocious strike from 25 yards beat David de Gea at his left-hand post, even though he got hands to the ball.

United were struggling to impose themselves and suffered a further blow when Sanchez had to go off with a knee injury seven minutes after the restart.

However, they turned the scoreline around in a spectacular six-minute spell. First, Pereira curled a spectacular strike beyond Gunn from 25 yards out, before Lukaku got free in the box, cut onto his right foot and drilled a shot into the bottom-right corner.

Just as United appeared to be heading for victory, Ward-Prowse sent an unstoppable effort beyond De Gea to send the travelling fans into raptures and silence the home fans.

But with two minutes of normal time remaining, Lukaku curled another low right-foot strike from outside the box past Gunn, prompting further cries of 'Ole, Ole, Ole' from the Stretford End, which were only slightly dampened when Gunn kicked away Pogba's penalty.