LONDON – Manchester City have assured themselves of direct entry into next season’s Champions League with a 4-2 win away to Swansea in the English Premier League.
The top three sides in England at the end of the season are assured of a place in the group stage of European football’s elite club competition, with the Premier League’s fourth-placed team having to enter a qualifying round instead.
Three goals came before halftime at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, with Yaya Toure, assisted by an error from Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianksi, and James Milner putting City 2-0 up before Gylfi Sigurdsson pulled a goal back for Swansea on the stroke of halftime.
French striker Bafetimbi Gomis equalised for the Swans midway through the second half before Toure, with Fabianksi out of position, made it 3-2 to City with a low shot from the edge of the box.
Former Swansea forward Wilfried Bony made it 4-2 in stoppage-time with only his second goal since he moved in the mid-season transfer window.
City’s win left them eight points clear of Manchester United, currently fourth, with only a maximum of six on offer to their local rivals in the Red Devils’ final two games of the season.
