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MANCHESTER, United Kingdom — Manchester City equalled their club record of 28 games unbeaten on Tuesday, hammering Wolverhampton 4-1 to open up a gaping 15-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola shuffled his pack at the Etihad against the team who did the league double against them last season as he maintained his club’s assault on an unprecedented quadruple.

The champions-elect were made to sweat after Conor Coady cancelled out an early own goal from Leander Dendoncker but two late goals from Gabriel Jesus and a Riyad Mahrez strike sealed the three points.

City’s 28-match unbeaten run in all competitions equals their run from April to December 2017 and they are red-hot favourites to wrap up a third Premier League title in four years.

The victory was their 21st in a row and their 15th straight Premier League win.

City have not trailed for a single minute in any of their past 19 Premier League games — equalling Arsenal’s record set in 1998/99.

Guardiola hailed his “fantastic team” but said his only focus was on the next game, against cross-town rivals Manchester United, who are City’s nearest challengers.

“After 1-1 we suffered but we created lots of chances in the end,” he told BT Sport.

“Manchester United. That’s all we care [about now],” he added. “The champions is Liverpool, the crown belongs to them. We are in the best position right now to take them out and we are going to try but they are the champions.

“There is 33 points to play for. Tomorrow our opponents will play, we have one or two days off and prepare for Manchester United at home.”

Dominant City

The home side toyed with the visitors from the opening whistle, hogging possession as Wolves struggled to gain a foothold.

City’s dominance was rewarded when Dendoncker could only steer the ball into his own net in the 15th minute.

Mahrez made an incisive run down the right, getting behind the City defence and was brilliantly picked out by midfielder Rodri.

The Algeria international whipped the ball across the face of goal and Dendoncker, with Raheem Sterling hovering menacingly behind him, inadvertently found the net.

Aymeric Laporte had an effort ruled out for offside and Bernardo Silva blazed over after Rui Patricio saved smartly from his header on the stroke of half-time.

City nearly doubled their lead early in the second half but Patricio was again impressive, making a fingertip save from a Kevin De Bruyne shot and pushing away a Mahrez effort.

But incredibly, Wolves were level just after the hour mark when Coady headed in Joao Moutinho’s free-kick that was clipped into the box.

City upped the pressure and reclaimed the lead with 10 minutes remaining. Wolves failed to cut out a Kyle Walker cross and Jesus turned to smash home from close range.

Mahrez tucked home their third in the 90th minute to put the result beyond doubt and Jesus claimed a fourth with the final kick of the game.

City’s winning streak is the third-best streak among teams in Europe’s leading five leagues, behind only Bayern Munich’s 23 in a row in 2020 and Real Madrid’s 22 successive victories in 2014.

What is even more astonishing is that they started the season slowly, with many commentators forecasting the closest Premier League title race for years.

Instead, Guardiola’s men are turning the race into a procession.

LOS ANGELES — Zion Williamson produced a dominant performance as the New Orleans Pelicans upset the league-leading Utah Jazz with a 129-124 victory on Monday.

Pelicans prodigy Williamson finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and five assists to give New Orleans a deserved victory over the Western Conference-leading Jazz.

It was the sort of display from the 20-year-old Williamson that made him one of the most coveted young players in years when he was snapped up by New Orleans two years ago with the No.1 pick in the Draft.

Against Utah on Monday, the two metres, 129-kilogramme powerhouse used his physique and skill to barrel through the Jazz defence.

Utah had led by nine points in the second period but were left trailing by 17 early in the fourth quarter as the Pelicans cut loose.

Although Utah closed to within one point with 47 seconds remaining, two Williamson free throws restored the Pelicans’ three-point cushion before Josh Hart added the coup de grace after Mike Conley missed for Utah.

Williamson’s scoring tally was matched by Brandon Ingram, who also finished with 26 points, while four other Pelicans players cracked double digits.

Point guard Lonzo Ball added 23 points, while J.J. Redick had 17 off the bench including three of four three-pointers.

Utah’s scoring was led by Bojan Bogdanovic, who finished with 31 points, while Rudy Gobert had 22 points and Donovan Mitchell 21.

The contest pivoted in the third quarter, when the Pelicans erupted for 40 points.

“We find ourselves in situations like this all the time,” Williamson said afterwards. “It’s a matter of want. And tonight we wanted it more. 

“We came out with better energy in the third quarter and got the win.”

The Pelicans improved to 15-19 and are now 11 in the Western Conference standings. Leaders Utah fell to 27-8 following the loss but remain three games clear of the second-placed Los Angeles Lakers.

Sixers bounce back

In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid scored 24 points and hauled down 13 rebounds as the 76ers bounced back from their shock weekend defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers with an emphatic win over the Indiana Pacers.

Embiid added five assists and two turnovers in a dominant 130-114 victory over the Pacers that improved the Sixers to 23-12 at the top of the Eastern Conference.

“We have to make it easier for him to have the answers,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said of Embiid’s display. “I thought he was patient, and he just made the right reads. That was really good.”

Shake Milton had 26 points off the bench, while Furkan Korkmaz nailed six three-pointers in a 19-point haul. Ben Simmons added 18 points after making seven-of-11 attempts from the field.

Rivers was also happy with an improved defensive performance following Saturday’s loss to Cleveland.

“We had to get stops and I thought we did that. I love how we spaced the floor. That’s why I was so upset the other night — we had no spacing.”

Malcolm Brogdon led the Indiana scorers with 20 points on a night when six Pacers players made double figures.

In Texas, Kyrie Irving and James Harden helped the Brooklyn Nets overcome a late San Antonio Spurs rally in a thrilling 124-113 overtime win at the AT&T Centre.

Brooklyn led by 10 points with two minutes remaining before the Spurs rallied to force overtime through Dejounte Murray’s pull-up jumpshot on the buzzer.

But Irving — who finished with 27 points — made two crucial three-pointers in overtime to see the Nets through to victory, leaving them firmly on the tail of Philadelphia at the top of the Eastern standings. Harden, who added a three-pointer in overtime, weighed in with 30 points.

The Nets are now within half a game of the Sixers with 23 wins and 13 losses.

MILAN — Romelu Lukaku scored after 33 seconds and set up another in Inter Milan’s 3-0 win over Genoa on Sunday to keep their title push on track ahead of city rivals AC Milan, who beat Roma 2-1.

Inter remain four points ahead of second-placed Milan, who got back to winning ways in Rome after consecutive league losses including last weekend’s derby defeat.

Champions Juventus are a further six points adrift after being held 1-1 at Hellas Verona on Saturday, but have played a game fewer.

Atalanta, equal on points with Juventus, take fourth spot two points ahead of Roma who drop to fifth following the loss to Milan.

Lukaku scored with the first chance at the San Siro, then laid on Matteo Darmian for Inter’s second in the 69th minute. Alexis Sanchez came off the bench to add a third with 13 minutes to go.

“We’re first in the standings and it’s a good feeling,” said Lukaku as Inter try to deny Juventus a 10th consecutive league title after finishing runners-up last season.

Antonio Conte’s side followed on from last weekend’s 3-0 derby win over Milan, notching up a fifth win in a row as they push for a first league title since 2010.

“We’re happy because our hard work is paying off,” said Conte.

“We know that there are 14 games left. Let’s keep our antennas up until the end if we want to do something good.”

Lukaku led the way, completing a give-and-go with Lautaro Martinez after good work from Nicolo Barella to fire in from an angle for his 18th Serie A goal of the season, one shy of leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 27-year-old has scored six goals in the last five games.

“I’m in a good moment of my career but the important thing is that Inter win,” added the former Manchester United player.

“These matches are opportunities for us to give signals to others, but the championship is long.”

Milan edge Roma

Milan won an intense battle with rivals Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in the Italian capital, as Stefano Pioli’s side push for a first league title since 2011.

A Franck Kessie penalty gave Milan the lead five minutes before the interval after Federico Fazio fouled Davide Calabria.

Jordan Veretout pulled Roma level five minutes after the break with an arrowed shot, but the away side were soon back in front.

Ante Rebic drilled home the winner eight minutes later after collecting a pass from Alexis Saelemaekers following a poor clearance from Roma goalkeeper Pau Lopez.

Off-form Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic had been substituted shortly before Croatia international Rebic scored the decisive goal.

“I told the lads that two games [losses] cannot take away the confidence build up over a year,” said Pioli.

“It’s an important win at a decisive moment in the season which takes us out of two very strange weeks.”

Ibrahimovic watched the end of game with an ice pack on his left thigh before a week in which he will juggle football and show business as one of the star presenters of the San Remo music festival.

Atalanta kept their Champions League push alive with a 2-0 win over Sampdoria with goals in either half from Ruslan Malinovskyi and Robin Gosens.

Napoli’s record goalscorer Dries Mertens returned from injury to help the southerners boost their own top four hopes with a 2-0 win over local rivals Benevento that puts them a point behind Roma in sixth.

Mertens started for the first time in over two months and the 33-year-old got his boot to a Faouzi Ghoulam cross after half an hour for his 131st Napoli goal.

Matteo Politano turned in the second in the 66th minute and Gennaro Gattuso’s side held on for the points despite Kalidou Koulibaly’s sending off 10 minutes from time.

In the relegation battle, Cagliari snapped their 16-match winless run in coach Leonardo Semplici’s first match in charge with a 2-0 success over rock-bottom Crotone.

BERLIN — A last-gasp Alexander Sorloth goal sealed RB Leipzig’s dramatic 3-2 comeback win at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday and kept them in the thick of the Bundesliga title race.

Leipzig fought back with second-half goals by Christopher Nkunku and Yussuf Poulsen before Sorloth’s winning header in the 93rd minute after Gladbach had led 2-0 at half-time.

“We’ll try everything to keep the Bundesliga exciting,” said Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann.

“We have to keep the momentum. It was an extremely important victory in terms of the table”.

“We didn’t look good when we conceded the goals, but were incredibly strong in the second half.”

The victory keeps second-placed Leipzig two points behind leaders Bayern Munich, who earlier romped to a 5-1 home win over Cologne.

Gladbach were in complete control at half-time after Jonas Hofmann netted an early penalty and Marcus Thuram used his shoulder to guide the ball into the net from a Breel Embolo header.

However, Sorloth came off the bench and inspired the second-half fight back.

The former Crystal Palace striker had a goal disallowed for handball before setting up Nkunku, who fired home Leipzig’s first goal on 57 minutes.

Poulsen smashed home the equaliser on 66 minutes.

Leipzig had all the momentum and peppered the Gladbach goal before Sorloth’s winning header deep into added time.

Goretzka shines for Bayern

Earlier, Bayern bounced back after taking just a point in their previous two league games as midfielder Leon Goretzka created three goals in their rout of Cologne.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting headed Bayern into an early lead before Robert Lewandowski, the league’s top scorer, struck twice to increase his league tally to 28 goals this season.

Serge Gnabry came off the bench to claim two late goals behind closed doors at the Allianz Arena on his first appearance since tearing a thigh muscle in Bayern’s Club World Cup final win in Qatar.

Coach Hansi Flick made just one change — Choupo-Moting for Kingsley Coman — from the side which beat Lazio 4-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Bayern quickly built a 2-0 lead through Choupo-Moting and Lewandowski with Goretzka setting up both goals.

Cologne midfielder Ellyes Skhiri chipped Manuel Neuer four minutes after the break to pull a goal back.

With just over 25 minutes left, Flick settled nerves by bringing on Gnabry and Thomas Mueller, who made his first appearance a fortnight after testing positive for COVID-19.

Mueller’s pass split the Cologne defence and found Lewandowski who restored the two-goal cushion on 65 minutes.

Cologne midfielder Dominick Drexler hit the post before Gnabry made it 4-1 by converting a cross, then claimed his second just before the final whistle after an excellent pass from Goretzka.

Wolfsburg remain third, seven points behind Bayern, after their 2-0 home win over Hertha Berlin, whose defender Lukas Kluenter turned the ball into his own net before Maxence Lacroix scored the hosts’ second.

Wolfsburg defender Marin Pongracic was sent off in added time for a second booking. 

England winger Jadon Sancho converted a penalty and Brazil midfielder Reinier scored his first goal for the club as Dortmund stayed fifth with a 3-0 home win over Arminia Bielefeld.

Japan midfielder Wataru Endo netted his first two Bundesliga goals in Stuttgart’s 5-1 thrashing of bottom side Schalke, whose Algeria midfielder Nabil Bentaleb had a second-half penalty saved.

On Friday, fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt had their 11-match unbeaten run ended by a shock 2-1 defeat at Werder Bremen, whose rising American star Josh Sargent, 20, hit the winning goal.

LONDON — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes the race for the Premier League top four will go down to the wire as Manchester United prepare to face Thomas Tuchel’s revitalised Chelsea on Sunday.

United were knocked off top spot by Manchester City on January 26 and a run of just two wins in six top-flight matches means they are now 10 points behind their rivals.

Second-placed United head to the Etihad Stadium for a Manchester derby clash on March 7 but before then they have back-to-back fixtures away to London clubs, with Sunday’s match against Chelsea followed by Wednesday’s game with Crystal Palace. 

“We’ve got Chelsea just behind us, we’ve got City away in front of us,” said Solskjaer. 

“Of course we can’t let them run further away if we have ambitions of catching them and we can’t give Chelsea too much hope to catch us either.”

Solskjaer believes United are over their recent wobble ahead of the match at Stamford Bridge, where Tuchel has made an impressive impact since succeeding Frank Lampard last month.

The Blues have yet to lose under the German and can halve the six-point gap to United on Sunday as the race for Champions League qualification spots heats up.

“You can see the results, you can see the stats, the possession they’ve had, they keep teams away from their own goal, keep the possession,” Solskjaer said.

“He’s [Tuchel] done really well. It’s never easy coming into a season halfway through so he must be pleased as well. Hopefully we can stop that run. That’s my job now.”

The Norwegian predicted a tense battle for Champions League places with a third of the season still to go.

City, United, Leicester and West Ham are currently in the top four but a clutch of teams, including Chelsea and champions Liverpool, harbour ambitions of dislodging them.

“I don’t think the positions will be decided early,” said Solskjaer. “With this season as well, it’s unpredictable.

“We’ve seen teams going through bad phases then a run and then who knows what’s going to happen with injuries, with how players react to the circumstances.”

Like Solskjaer, Tuchel is well aware of the significance of United’s visit to west London.

Chelsea are unbeaten in eight matches under Tuchel and enjoyed the most impressive result of his reign in midweek when they won 1v-0 at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last 16 first leg.

But Tuchel knows Chelsea’s hopes of securing a top four finish will be dented if United take all three points this weekend.

“Hopefully we can win, this is what we go for,” Tuchel said. “We know that it is a big challenge because of their unbeaten away record so far.”

“They are a strong team away, they can defend very compact and they are very good in transition. Whoever plays it will be a big challenge to defend all this, to defend counterattacks.

“The implications are huge. If we get a win out of this game, it is huge and if they get a win, it is huge for them to increase the difference between us.”

This will be the third time Tuchel has faced Solskjaer this season after his former club Paris Saint Germain met United twice in the Champions League group stage.

“It helps that you know the style, strengths, weaknesses and it helps you to prepare but we won’t show pictures from these games to help the team,” Tuchel said.

“We will focus on the last four weeks as always but to have a clear picture from the last two fixtures gives a pretty good impression on the style they want to play, the spaces where they want to hurt us.”

Manchester City moved to the verge of the Champions League quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Wednesday but coach Pep Guardiola insisted his team still need to "be more clinical up front".

A first half header from Bernardo Silva and a Gabriel Jesus strike in the second period of the last 16 first leg tie extended a winning streak by Guardiola's high-flying side to 19 games in all competitions.

Premier League leaders City camped inside the Gladbach half for most of the game, which was moved to Hungary due to Germany's Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Although dominant, City took time to break down a stubborn German defence, often foiled by the interceptions of Algeria left-back Ramy Bensebaini. 

While Guardiola said afterwards he was "pleased" with the result, he added City "have to improve" to challenge for Champions League honours.

"We controlled the game. Unfortunately we were not clinical up front, it is something we have to improve in this competition, we were not good enough in the box, we didn't dribble and shoot enough," said Guardiola. 

"In this competition you have to be perfect to be sure you can go through," he said.

Debutants in the Champions League knockout stages, Gladbach had been urged by coach Marco Rose to be brave against Guardiola's side.

France's Alassane Plea was almost through on goal on 20 minutes after a rare counterattack, but a nervy and deep-lying Gladbach eventually succumbed to mounting pressure in the 29th minute.

A sublime inch-perfect cross by Portuguese defender Joao Cancelo curled over the defence from the left to reach his compatriot Silva who flicked his close-range header past Yann Sommer.

"We tried to play simple and not make mistakes. It's a good win for us, but it's not over yet," Silva told BT Sport.

"Every time when he plays (Silva) is an exceptional player, he's really good in the air, the goal was fantastic how he finished it," said Guardiola.

The 26-year-old Cancelo, impressive throughout, nearly doubled the lead five minutes from the break but his shot from just outside the box pinged over the bar.

Then early in the second half Jesus should have converted after latching on to a poorly judged backpass by Bensebaini but saw his shot blocked by Swiss defender Nico Elvedi.

Apart from a lunging backheel from Plea that flashed just wide of Ederson's far post on the hour mark, City comfortably contained the Germans, and went two up in the 65th minute.

Another majestic cross-field pass by Cancelo again found Silva at Sommer's far post who this time headed back across the goalmouth for Jesus to fire home and seal City's 19th successive victory and sixth Champions League clean sheet in a row.

Gladbach, who managed just one shot on target throughout the game, an effort by substitute Hannes Wolf saved by Ederson in the last moments, now face a formidable task to turn around the tie in the return leg scheduled for March 16 in Manchester. 

"We deservedly lost today against a very strong team, you don't get many chances against such an opponent, we simply couldn't attack more," said Rose

"It would have been good to score at the end to be in a better position."

Ferland Mendy scored late as Real Madrid beat 10-man Atalanta 1-0 on Wednesday to close in on the Champions League quarter-finals.

The French left-back's strike in Bergamo came four minutes from time in a last 16 first leg game which the hosts played a man down for over 70 minutes as Zinedine Zidane's side hold the advantage heading into the second leg in Madrid on March 16.

Atalanta had attacked early but the game was transformed when Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler was harshly send off on 17 minutes for tripping Mendy at the edge of the penalty area.

Gian Piero Gasperini's woes continued with forward Duvan Zapata limping off after half an hour with a muscular problem with midfielder Mario Pasalic coming off the bench.

Spanish midfielder Isco got a rare start up front for injury-hit Real Madrid playing alongside Marco Asensio and Vinicius.

The 13-time European champions were without striker Karim Benzema due to an ankle problem with an injury list also including Sergio Ramos, Eden Hazard and Dani Carvajal.

But Zidane's side failed to make the most of the extra man despite coming closest to breaking through in the first half with a Casemiro header, with Nacho, Isco and Vinícius Junior also threatening and Luka Modric sending over the goal.

Zapata and in-form Luis Muriel lead the Atalanta attack in their first meeting with Real Madrid.

Atalanta continued to attack, with Muriel missing a chance to give the hosts the advantage four minutes before the break with a long-range strike that went just wide.

Atalanta goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini kept the hosts in the game keeping out a Casemiro header on a free kick before the half-time whistle.

Modric sent wide of the post after the break and sent through for Vinícius but was headed away from the Brazilian. 

Josip Illicic came on in place of Muriel after 56 minutes.

The Slovenian scored five goals against Valencia at this stage of the competition last season, but was substituted off four minutes from time after a poor display.

Soon afterwards Madrid broke through thanks to Mendy, who beat Gollini with a stunning curling effort into the top corner.

Real have the advantage going into the second leg having missed out on the quarter-finals for the last two seasons.

Atalanta need a historic effort in the away leg to reach the last eight for a second successive year.

The Bergamo side won their last 16, first leg clash against Valencia 4-1 a year ago on front of 45,000 spectators in Milan's San Siro.

That match was considered to have been one of the reasons behind the acceleration of the virus in Italy with Bergamo at the epicentre of the country's outbreak.

The were playing their second Champions League campaign, but the first knock-out match in their home stadium which underwent renovations last season when they reached the last eight.

And thousands of fans ignored the Italian team's plea to stay away with a party atmosphere outside the stadium with a fireworks display.