Manchester City survived a scare to preserve their club record-equalling winning streak with a 2-1 victory over Huddersfield at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Huddersfield had looked on course to repeat their famous victory over Manchester United when Christopher Schindler’s header deflected in off Nicolas Otamendi in first-half stoppage-time.
But Raheem Sterling’s second-half cameo proved decisive as he won a penalty which Sergio Aguero converted on 47 minutes before the England international bundled home the winner with six minutes remaining.
Aaron Mooy’s late free-kick nearly snatched a point for Huddersfield – who had Rajiv van La Parra sent off at full-time following an altercation with Leroy Sane – but Pep Guardiola’s men held on for an 11th consecutive Premier League victory to restore their eight-point lead at the top of the table.
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On a bitterly cold afternoon in Yorkshire, City dominated the ball from the get-go and nearly made the perfect start, but Vincent Kompany headed wide from a corner on seven minutes before Aguero had an effort ruled out for offside six minutes later.
Huddersfield went on to withstand a City onslaught and the pressure almost told on 34 minutes as Kevin De Bruyne released Aguero, but Schindler’s last-gasp block kept the visitors at bay.
City mounted a late charge before the interval as Otamendi fired over from the edge of the area as, while Jonas Lossl was on hand to deny Aguero, parrying his shot into the path of Raheem Sterling who pulled the rebound wide.
For all of City’s dominance, though, it was Huddersfield who took the lead. After Mathias Jorgensen headed wide, and Kompany came within inches of turning the ball into his own net, Schindler’s near-post flick cannoned off Otamendi to send the raucous home support into raptures.
However, Huddersfield’s hopes of adding City to their list of high-profile Premier League scalps lasted just 117 seconds into the second half as Aguero converted a penalty after Scott Malone was penalised for a foul on Sterling.
Sane rattled the Huddersfield crossbar with a free-kick on 57 minutes as City laid siege to the Huddersfield goal, and the pressure finally told as Lossl’s save from Gabriel Jesus’ effort rebounded off Sterling to complete the turnaround.
