Semenyo goal sees City go 2pts off top with win at Leeds

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0:37Welcome to the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. We were at Elland Road on Saturday evening as Leeds played Manchester City. This is how we saw things at full time.

1:00The gap narrows. Ten games left for each of the top two. And the points difference between Arsenal and Manchester City is two points. No Erling Haaland, they had to do it without him. But in Antoine Semenyou, they had the perfect player to step up. And there has been a red card there for Daniel Farker in the aftermath of this game. Peter Vax showing the Leeds manager red as he completely loses his rag at the end. It's a defeat for Leeds, they are still six points clear of the relegation zone after West Ham's defeat earlier. He calms down enough to magnanimously congratulate his opposite number, Pep Guardiola.

1:54but unusual to see the Leeds manager lose his cool in that manner but in Semenyo they've got a scorer who's up there with Erling Haaland this season this is what happened with Daniel Farker who made the long run over to Peter Banks a couple of wags of the finger and presumably whatever was coming out of his mouth even before he got as far as the referee convinced him enough to produce that red card from his pocket it's difficult to see what in the match has enraged him so much there was nothing particularly controversial in what the referee gave but well you know you can often see Daniel Farcroft in that kind of mood well unless it was to do with the timekeeping and they did stop it literally on the six minutes.

2:47However, the outcome of this is that Manchester City really do apply the squeeze to Arsenal now. They've still kept their destiny in their own hands with ten Premier League fixtures to go. Leeds nil, Manchester City won. And we will hear from Daniel Farker later on and he can elucidate on the instances that led to him approaching the referee. And it's still going on on the pitch. There are still players who are angry about the outcome. Pep Guardiola is in the midst of it all, talking to some of those Leeds United players. And a couple of those Leeds players were the ones actually who were going over.

3:25Carl Darlow was in there, Ethan Ampadu, who were trying to kind of nudge Daniel Farker away from the referee at the final whistle. But we saw an absolute pelt towards the referee. Whatever he said, the referee had his red card in the air before Daniel Farker even reached him. But those Leeds players now dispersing to kind of applaud their home fans, the Manchester City fans, making their way over to the... The Manchester City players, rather, making their way over to the City fans. Those City players exhausted at the end of that game, Micah. The three points are the most important thing. They moved to within two of Arsenal, but it looked like that took a lot out of them.

4:02Yeah, I think it did. I thought Man City in the whole game were excellent, not in terms of that free-flowing football we used to see in the past, but just can you dig in? and can find a way to win the game. You knew the tension was really there at Ellen Road. The fans are brilliant there. The atmosphere, always electric. And they know now that is a big result because Arsenal are at Chelsea tomorrow. At this stage of the season, Kels, it's just about... It doesn't really matter how you play. It's about getting over the line, giving everything in the game. And they did that today. I thought, as a group...

4:36And they did it against Newcastle as well, Micah. There were quite frantic scenes towards the end of that one as well. Is the pattern at all worrying to you? Well, I think in terms of when they concede in the second half, it is a little bit worrying, but that's why today was such a massive performance because Leeds applied that pressure towards the end, and I thought Ruben Diaz was outstanding. He won everything in that box. And it's just, have you got that little bit of quality, like Semenyo go, to get over the line? because Leeds were knocking. It was knocking all game. I mean, I think it was better in that first half, especially for the chances.

5:14But in the second half, I just thought on that counter-attack, could they create something? Could Man City deal with it? And I thought they'd dealt with everything perfectly tonight. Eight wins in the last nine for Manchester City, including in this game. But we should give credit, Stuart, to Leeds and the performance that they put in. Yeah, Leeds were fantastic, especially in the first half. They really took a game to City. But City then done really well. to sort of calm it down a bit and sort of take control of the game. But both teams put a lot into the game. You see by the reaction of the players after the game, City players lying on the pitch, exhausted from what they put in.

5:49So it feels like it's a big, big win for City. For Leeds, it's a decent performance. They can take a lot of holes, heart and that from that. So they have a big game now against Sunderland midweek. Hopefully they can come out in the end with a win then. So having been given the red card, Daniel Farker is taking the long route off the pitch and making sure that he applauds those Leeds United fans. This is what we've seen already this weekend. The Friday night football was a 2-0 victory for Wolves against Aston Villa. In the early kick-off today, it finished Bournemouth 1, Sunderland 1. Extraordinary game at Turf Moor.

6:24Brentford were 3-0 up. Burnley got it back to 3-0. Then Brentford got a fourth to take all three points. But only just because with almost the last kick of the game, Burnley had the ball in the net. It took a six-minute stoppage for VAR to have a look at it and rule that goal out. You can have a look at that decision and all the goals, remember, on the Sky Sports app by scanning the QR code. Liverpool's 5-2 result against West Ham, probably not a reflection of the balance of that game, but a very comfortable 5-2 victory on paper, at least. And Newcastle beating 3-2 at home by Everton. Loads of goals for you to cast your eye over on the Sky Sports app, including that one for Manchester City against Leeds United.

7:06And what that means is that ahead of Arsenal's game tomorrow, Manchester City moved back to within two points of the league leaders. And because they have that game coming against them in April, it is all to play for. Not much in it in terms of the goal difference either. Results today meant, particularly that defeat for West Ham, meant that Leeds were still relatively comfortable in the table even before this game against Manchester City kicked off. It's a six-point gap between West Ham and Leeds United, who remain in 15th place in the table.

8:02week I'll be joined by the sport's biggest names and best pundits to chat about the latest action and biggest talking points. Can Rory become only the fourth man to successfully defend the Masters title? Can Tommy Fleetwood win the claret jug in his own backyard at Birkdale? Could Charlie Hull finally become a major champion and perhaps play a big role in Europe winning back the Solheim Cup? All that and more on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast in 2026, available wherever you get your podcasts.

8:40Welcome back to the Sky Sports Premier League Podcast. Let's get back to the studio for more reaction to today's game. And the match winner joins us live from Elland Road right now. Antoine, thank you very much for your time coming out to chat to us. We've just seen the goal back, but before we reflect on your performance, just tell us what those three points, what closing the gap to Arsenal to two points means. Yeah, it means everything. I think we just want to win all our games on our side and whatever Arsenal do, we just have to wait and see. But I think we just need to control what we can control, win our games, and we'll see what happens.

9:20But we're all happy. Quite a few City players on their backs on the floor. at the end of that game. How exhausting were that Leeds team to play against? Yeah, very tough. They are a transitional team, up and down. They did it really well, and they made it tough for us in some moments. What you saw last minute, yeah, it was just all the effort we put into that game and how tough they made it for us. So it was a great win. I mean, you're opening 11 games for Manchester City, six goals and two assists. It looks absolutely seamless, the transition. Tell us a bit about the hard work that you're putting in to make it look effortless.

9:58Well, it starts every day in training. The boys just make it so easy for me to adapt. They're trying to play to my strengths. Same with the coach. He's trying to help me just be confident, be calm in some moments and pop up and obviously score some goals. So, yeah, I'm all adapting and I'm enjoying the process and playing around world-class players. So it's just making me better and keeps me on my toes. Anton, congrats. Can you talk us through your goal? Good movement again. Yeah, Ryan Cherky played it. Well, he gets the ball. And I know he's looking to break the line somehow. So, ain't no, he made some good movement.

10:35And as soon as the ball got to the bar line, I just needed to be at the back stick. I knew he was going to smash it across. And, yeah, it's in the right place at the right time. Can I ask you a little bit about your position? Sometimes you're playing up front. Sometimes you're playing midfield. How easy has that been for you to adapt to what Pep wants tactically? It's been tough. It hasn't been easy. I think how he wants me to be is be up high in attacking positions, be out wide. And once we have it defensively, be narrow like a wide man. So it's obviously not easy. It's a hard graft, but I'm quite versatile in that sense.

11:13I'm able to play both positions. Tell us a little bit about the celebration. I know your mum didn't want you doing the backflips anymore. so what's behind the guitar celebration? Just a few friends said that I should do something funny and that was the first thing that came up in my head so I was just like a nice guitar, good performance, crowd loved it and yeah, that was literally it. Yeah, Manchester City on tune, Antoine Semenyo on tune as well and it looks as though those performances are coming. Micah was saying in the analysis at the final whistle at this stage of the season, it's not necessarily about being dominant in games, but it is just about the importance of getting those three points.

11:55Have you noticed the, not a difference in mentality, because obviously you want to win every game at Bournemouth as well, but that kind of title winning mentality at Manchester City? Yes, definitely seeing it, it starts from training every day, just the little habits, passing, drill, possession, it's just making sure that attention to detail, everyone's focused and not lacking and when you do that in training it follows into games and everyone just wants to win so yeah everyone is just major focus and yeah that that shift in mentality is so crazy like just little things and making sure they're on tip-top shape.

12:33Antoine it's Stu Dallas here congratulations on a fantastic result just I just want to ask you about obviously Erland Holland was was missing tonight did you find that he had an extra added responsibility to produce that match-winning moment?

12:49Yeah, in some sense, yeah. I feel like being up front, if the big man's not there, you have to fill his boots and I just try to do the best I can, get in the box, make movement and get myself a goal. So I'm happy I've done that today, but it's always going to be big pressure when you're replacing Erling in the team. And how long do you get to enjoy this win before you start looking ahead to Forest on Wednesday? Probably just this evening and then tomorrow back in training and getting ready for Forest in the week. Antoine, listen, thanks so much for joining us. Congratulations on the win. Congratulations on the goal.

13:30Thank you very much, guys. Have a good evening. Thank you very much to Antoine Semenyo for joining us from Elland Road. Michael, let's take a look at that record that we mentioned there for Manchester City so far this season And across those 11 games, he's hit the ground running for City. He comes in, yes, he knows the league, but you asked him about it there. Coming in and delivering what Pep Guardiola expects from you, when you're asked to play in slightly different positions, it's not as easy as he's made it look. Yeah, I mean, it's just got that true quality, hasn't it? And I think we always say when players go to a new club, they need time to adapt.

14:05but what he brings, that pace, that power and the football IQ to do what Pep wants. I think that is the most important because when you're playing up front with Haaland, balls going up and then you're playing up with Mamouche, but defensively he's had to drop into positions as well where it's probably new to him and then getting the ball out wide. I just think the way he's adapted is absolutely fantastic. But not only that, delivering as well because when you come to the Man City side, There's so many stars in the team. Haaland, even, like we mentioned, like Sifoden. Reinders starts on the bench.

14:39Bernardo Silva runs defensively. I thought that was really good today. But to have the impact with so many stars in the team, it just shows you how good of a player he really is. And long may it continue because the question mark was, could he do it at this level? And he definitely can do it at this level. I think a big thing for him is... In terms of Champions League. I think when you remember back to the likes of Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling, who within their own rights were outstanding for City, but at the start they possibly struggled to be in a goal-scoring position at the right time.

15:10And he seems to have that knack for being in the right position at the right time. You know, you see where his goal comes from tonight. And it's so easy as a forward player to find yourself, when the ball's on one side, it's so easy to find yourself out the other side. But he's in the six-yard box there, obviously where Pep wants him. It looks like it's an easy tap-in, but he's in the right place at the right moment. and that's huge for City to have a player like that. I remember hearing some of Lionel Messi's teammates saying, actually, when you're playing with great players, sometimes understanding what they're going to do next can be the problem.

15:42But his awareness of where these players are going to be, he said playing with great players makes life easier for him, but it's the awareness of what they're going to do, Michael. Yeah, I think the most important thing, we've got to show Shirky there, he was playing more in those positions, But because leads were so compact, he findes himself out wide. And I just want you to look at Mamouche. And we've talked about him before off air in how clever he is. When you've not got Haaland, who's a target man, you need someone who can make clever movement. So if we roll that on slowly there, he just popped.

16:21If you go back there, just stopped there. It was brilliant because he's saying if he could just get it on the point, He knows exactly where he's going. Roll it on slowly. And just until you see that point, he knows this is where the space is now. Because he's now, in the mind, he's lost his man. He probably should be in this position. But because we know him on the ball, Shirky, is such a genius, now that little run from Amouche opens up that space for 8-0. And there's the run we're talking about. Exactly what Stuart talked about in terms of everyone wants the ball to feet. You'll get goals at the back post.

16:59You mentioned Sterling. He was the master at it. And when you've got top players around you, you get goals like that for fun in Manchester. And I just thought it was a really well-worked goal in terms of the rotations. Someone coming in, someone going out and someone being on the end of it. Brilliantly worked. Yeah, he's settling so well and has settled in so well to life at Manchester City. we saw at the final whistle Daniel Farker was given a red card he was very angry with the refereeing team we've not heard from him yet but this is one of the instances where he may have a cause for that anger Stuart what did you think of this potential hand ball shot from Nunes?

17:40Yeah listen we don't know what he's frustrated at I've never seen him like that before but you just see here there's a push in the back of the match Ruben it's hard to tell sort of from that angle isn't it whether it hits Diaz or hits Nunes on the arm. You maybe see it better from this position here. What Max Centro have said is they believe it's a natural position for the action that he's completing. I mean, I think he possibly thinks that it's going to be cleared. It's hard. You can't... I don't know. I think it would be harsh if it was given. One is, you know, would it be harsh to give it? And the second one is, have we seen them given in the Premier League this season?

18:19Is it consistent with other handball decisions that we've seen so far this season? So the first one is, do you think it should be given? And the second one is, has it been given so far this season? I don't think it should be given because of that contact from Calvert-Lewin. So if he doesn't get that contact, he stays in his position. He goes up for a header. As soon as he engages and makes that contact, now it becomes natural to have your hands in that position. to a wider point you've seen penalties given for that and that's the inconsistency we constantly talk about the only reason I'm asking that is because his arm is here yeah but Calvin Lewin's got his hand on him which makes you automatically bring your arms up so I don't know I personally think and listen I'm probably I could come at it from a Leeds point of view I think it would have been really harsh to give that as a penalty it'll be interesting to hear what Daniel's frustrated about I know there was possibly a stamp on this side on Gruev from Cherki.

19:20Yeah. Let's hear what he has to say before we... The red card. We won't hear from him because of the red card, which I was saying, I forgot about earlier on. We were talking about the red card and I was like, we'll hear what he thinks about it. We won't because he got the red card. Look, in terms of Leeds and particularly in the first half, what they were able to do, so many chances created. They put City under real pressure. But you said at half-time, Stuart, if you are going to put City under pressure, you have to capitalise on that. Yeah, you've got to take your chances and Leeds put so much energy into the first 30 minutes especially.

19:52Calvin Leuwen obviously with two big, big chances and listen, we can't be too critical of him. He's been absolutely outstanding this season and you see, the press at Leeds, Leeds were really, really aggressive in their press in the first half and really had City rattled at times. You see again here, Aronson just on the end of one that possibly on another day can, again, it's good defending from Mark Gay, but yeah, Leeds were really, really aggressive and probably played how we expected them to start the game this one i think it probably would have been called back brendan's offside but again it's a good save from donnarumma who tends to make big saves at big moments there's such a great watch leads because of the rotations their energy that tenacity as well and the only thing they didn't have was that final touch you know that little bit of composure when they needed it again are they doing this against man city you know sometimes Man City could be very vulnerable, especially in that first half when they're holding that high line, but you've got to take one of those chances.

20:49It wasn't meant to be. And then Man City capitalised. Six shots in the second half, none of them on target. In the first half, it was eight shots, which is the most City have faced in a first half so far this season. But at the other end, Karl Darlow's had a bit of a tough time at Leeds United. But this save, if any of the forwards have been able to take their chances, could have proved crucial, Steve. Yeah, I mean, Karl has been in, he's been out, he's been back in again. You know, he's done well. He's come under a bit of criticism, of course he has. But listen, he's making big saves at big moments.

21:22He had won last week against Aston Villa as well. And for me, he's been brilliant. That is a fantastic save there. And that's what you need when you're at that bottom end of the table, as well as the top end. You need a really good goalkeeper. And I feel like the more Karl's playing, he's coming into his own. Six points to West Ham inside the bottom three. Obviously, they'd want more and the job's not done yet. But is it comfortable enough for this stage of the season, do you think? I don't think it's ever comfortable until you hit that magic 40-point mark, as they talk about. I do think there's more to come from this Leeds team.

21:55I think if they do happen to achieve that points mark that keeps them safe, I think then they'll possibly tick the handbrake off a little bit. I think, you know, there's still more in them. In terms of what? Scoring goals? I think at times they're almost happy just to have a point, which is fine. You're surviving and every point counts, which is great. I think when they have opened up at times, they have been able to hurt teams. And I just think that there's that little bit of anxiety around the club at the minute that they need to be a Premier League team next year. And if they can keep continuing to get towards that points target before the end of the season, And I really think you could see sort of them playing more freely and, you know, really kicking on.

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23:53Antoine Semenyo was the match winner for Manchester City as they beat Leeds United by a goal to nil to move to within two points of Arsenal. Here's Pep Guardiola with Johnny Phillips.

24:31In the beginning it was just passes but without sense to attack and after that we created a little bit more. Not a lot because I know how tough they are. But yeah, huge victory to still be there. How difficult was it to soak up that pressure early on from Leeds, do you feel? It was all the teams like that. But I think Bernardo and Rodri did really well. We made a lot of passes and we did them fine in behind a little bit. We had to look a little bit more. But yeah, in general it was really good. and the guys, once again, they make an extraordinary effort because otherwise in these stages it's impossible.

25:08It was a lovely goal as well, a lot of craft in that. Top movement from behind, the pass from Ryan and after the movement not just from Antoine, but from everyone in the box. Antoine Semenyo, he's clearly hit the ground running here. He's made such an impact. Has he surprised you even or did you know you were going to get this? No, you never know. It's like Mark. so via players always the intention is good but the impact has been really good not just in terms of goals it is in many things and all this today without Haaland as well that must be satisfying as well when you look around the team yeah I wish he'd come back when do you expect him back?