Manchester City shrugged off the uncertainty caused by a series of Premier League charges to close to within three points of Arsenal at the top of the table with a 3-1 win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

A cloud is hanging over the English champions after the Premier League hit the club with more than 100 charges alleging breaches of financial rules dating as far back as 2009.

If found guilty, City could face a severe points deduction or even relegation from the top flight.

But City boss Pep Guardiola came out swinging in defence of the club’s hierarchy as he pointed the finger at jealous Premier League rivals for the accusations and his players followed him with a show of defiance on the field.

Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez all struck before half-time at the Etihad to edge ominously into Arsenal’s rear-view mirror ahead of a clash between the two on Wednesday.

Arsenal still have a game in hand, but City will now move to the top of the table should they win at the Emirates in midweek.

The Gunners’ 1-1 draw at home to Brentford on Saturday opened the door for City and unlike last weekend, when the defending champions missed the chance to pounce with defeat away to Tottenham, this time they made no mistake.

Guardiola also learned his lesson from an experimental line-up at Spurs.

Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne and Gundogan were restored to the starting line-up and City looked much more like their old selves.

The City support made their feelings known before kick-off as the Premier League anthem was booed and a banner raised saluting the lawyer the club have hired to defend the charges.

Just four minutes in they had something to cheer as Rodri rose highest to power home a header from Mahrez’s corner.

Jack Grealish was in the mood to do some damage against his former club and only a brilliant finger-tip save from Emiliano Martinez denied the England international from finding the top corner.

– Haaland injury concern –

Much was made of City’s reluctance to hit Erling Haaland early in a feeble surrender to Spurs last weekend and the Norwegian was a far more persistent threat in behind the Villa defence.

Haaland created the second as his pace beat Martinez to De Bruyne’s ball over the top and he picked out Gundogan at the far post for a simple finish.

Grealish then lured Jacob Ramsey into a clumsy challenge to win a penalty, which Mahrez slotted home as Haaland surprisingly stepped aside.

That decision was perhaps explained by Haaland’s withdrawal at half-time as he appeared to be nursing a thigh issue, which will be a concern for Guardiola.

So too will be his side’s defensive record as another clean sheet was spoiled when Douglas Luiz robbed Bernardo Silva and freed Ollie Watkins to fire into the far corner on the hour mark.

Villa substitute Jhon Duran then smashed against the bar in stoppage time, but a second-half rally was too little, too late for Unai Emery’s men.

The capability of Morocco at hosting sporting events has been given a thumb up by FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino.

The hosting by Morocco was given at short notice, as the award was made in Doha on 14 December 2022, less than two months to the event.

The Club World Cup is typically played annually in December, but the 2022 tournament could not take place during this period due to the 2022FIFA  World Cup that took place in Qatar in November and December. 

That not withstanding, the President of FIFA Gianni Infantino said that Morocco has mobilized all the necessary means and resources to ensure the successful hosting.

 “After the success of the World Cup in Qatar, this Club World Cup takes on a very unique and particular significance in the world, ” Infantino remarked.

He noted that Morocco made substantial efforts to guarantee the quality of the tournament, a reflection of the “trust” FIFA has given Morocco to organize the sporting event.

“If we did not have full trust [in Morocco], we would not be here today to organize the Club World Cup,” he emphasized.

Infantino said that he is looking forward to visiting Morocco again in the future, highlighting the country’s love and passion for football.

“It is a beautiful country … it is a country of football,” emphasized Infantino, celebrating the “huge success” of the Moroccan national football team during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Never before the FIFA Club World Cup started in 2000 had a final match produced an avalanche of goals as it happened in Rabat Sarturday night as Real Madrid extend the number of victories in the competition to five.

And symbolically, they had five goals to tell the story of their fifth victory in an eight goal thriller in which Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal fought gamely but lost 5-3.

Vinicius Junior scored twice .The Brazilian winger, who has faced appalling racist abuse in Spain this season, let his football do the talking in Rabat.

Federico Valverde also hit a double and there was a welcome goal for Karim Benzema on his return from a minor injury, with Madrid never seriously troubled by the champions of Saudi Arabia.

Al Hilal beat Flamengo in the semi-finals, but taking down the UEFA Champions League holders was a step too far, although they rattled Madrid at times.

Vinicius put Madrid ahead in the 13th minute when Benzema played him through to the left of goal. The Brazilian’s right-footed strike was not the most convincing of finishes but sneaked through the defences of goalkeeper Abdullah Al Muaiouf.

Argentinian Luciano Vietto almost levelled barely a minute later when his low strike from 20 yards went inches wide of the left post. Yet Madrid moved 2-0 up in the 18th minute after a soft goal for Al Hilal to concede.

Luka Modric’s whipped cross from the right was too hot for Al Muaiouf, with the ball bouncing out to Valverde whose 15-yard skidding volley went through defender Ali Al Bulayhi and the goalkeeper. Al Muaiouf did better moments later when repelling a strike by Benzema.

Any thought Los Blancos might be on easy street evaporated when Moussa Marega dashed through to fire past Andriy Lunin in the 26th minute, with Benzema missing a good chance late in the half to restore the two-goal cushion.

Benzema made no such mistake in the 54th minute, meeting a cross from Vinicius on the left with a powerful close-range finish. The ball from Vinicius, struck with the outside of his right boot, was read perfectly by Benzema whose sharp movement left three markers standing.

Dani Carvajal and Valverde combined expertly down the Madrid right in the 58th minute, working a path into the Al Hilal penalty area, with Valverde clipping in his second goal of the game.

Five minutes later, Antonio Rudiger was caught asleep on the job as Vietto sprinted behind him before chipping past Lunin to cut Madrid’s lead to 4-2, but Vinicius soon restored the three-goal cushion with a sweeping finish into the right corner.

Kelechi Iheanacho claimed the Man of the Match award for the second consecutive game following Leicester City’s 4-1 drubbing of Tottenham Hotspur at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.

Iheanacho picked up the award after Leicester City’s 4-2 victory at Aston Villa last week.

The 26-year-old scored once and provided two assists in that game.

Against Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur, Iheanacho was influential again hitting the target once with one assist.

The Nigeria international scored 51% of the votes, with James Maddison and Harvey Barnes coming second and third respectively.

Iheanacho has scored three goals and recorded four assists in 16 league appearances for the Foxes this season.

Nathan Tella is playing the best football of his life with an impressed Burnley boss Vincent Kompany going on to praise the Southampton loanee for giving the English Championship leaders “a bit extra”.

Tella, who has pledged his international future to the Super Eagles, netted a hat-trick in a 3-0 Derby win over Preston North End Saturday for his 14th goal in all competitions this season.

Burnley consolidated top place with their 10th straight win.

Kompany had a lot to say about “raw diamond” Tella.

“He has been doing really well but I would put his effort before anything,” he saluted.

“It is really important to point that out. He has goalscoring ability but I have seen many players with goalscoring ability who aren’t putting in the work for the team and that is just not good enough these days for me. He is able to combine both and that is what has given us a little bit extra.

“I think they key for him is to keep doing what has brought him this far. Don’t change your habits, because if there was something that needed changing we would have told him, and don’t look too much at records or anything. He is doing what he has to do to get goals and he has to believe he can get more if he stays on track.”

The Burnley manager added: “I still call him a ‘raw diamond’, you can see that he’s still progressing.

“For somebody that hasn’t played regular football that’s something that can go on for a while. We just monitor talented players, we monitor his habits, he’s showing an ability to play on the inside and outside, they’re really interesting tools he’s got now.

“When he scores goals I’m happy for him, but I’m happier about his contribution to the team in general.

“If you look at our first phase out of possession, he’s massive in that, if you look at the threat he can have in the first phase when we have the ball, to execute this idea you need that threat. He has all the tools and he helps us in so many ways other than goalscoring.”

Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun remains the leading scorer in Ligue 1 after he netted his 15th goal of the season in a 4-0 win by Reims over Troyes.

Balogun found target in the 50th minute for his team’s third goal in this Ligue 1 Derby.

He drove into the box, literally shrugged off his marker before he slotted home.

He has now scored a goal more than Ben Yedder of AS Monaco and two more than Lacazette (Lyon) and Kylian Mbappe (PSG).

The striker is eligible to play for the Super Eagles through his parents; USA, where he was born and England.

Flying Eagles of Nigeria continue their preparations for the forthcoming U20 African Cup of Nations with a win in warm-up game against Congo.

After 20 minutes of the end-to-end game, the Congolese broke the deadlock in the 27th minute and they were able to maintain it going into the halftime break.

Nigeria side up their game in the second half and Emmanuel Uchegbu finally netted a leveller in the 66th minute.

Lekan Adams put Nigeria ahead for the first time in the game in the 74th minute off an assist from Augustine Njoku and sealed a 2-1 for the Flying Eagles.

The biennial age-grade competition will kick off on February 19th and Nigeria will face Senegal in its opening game before trading tackles with the host, Egypt on 22nd February.

All the four semi-finalists will fly African flags in the FIFA U20 World Cup.

Real Madrid’s French forward Karim Benzema (C) celebrates with the trophy at the end of the FIFA Club World Cup final football match between Spain’s Real Madrid and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal

Real Madrid lifted the Club World Cup for a record fifth time with a pulsating 5-3 win over Al Hilal on Saturday in Morocco.

Vinicius Junior and Fede Valverde struck twice each, while Karim Benzema also scored on his return from injury in Madrid’s spectacular victory over their Saudi Arabian opponents.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who qualified as Champions League winners last season, had far too much attacking quality for their opponents to handle.

Madrid’s emphatic triumph at Rabat’s Prince Moulay Abdellah stadium secured their second piece of silverware of the season, after winning the European Super Cup in August.

It also provided welcome respite from their La Liga campaign, where they sit eight points behind rivals Barcelona, who also beat them in the Spanish Super Cup final in January.

Madrid also won three Intercontinental Cups in 1960, 1998 and 2002 — a match between European and South American champions, which merged with the Club World Cup in 2005.

“We are very happy, for the eighth time Madrid are champions of the world, it was what we had to do,” Ancelotti told Telecinco.

“We’re happy, it was a good game. We had a lot of quality up front.

“I think we were good up front, with Vinicius, Karim, Valverde, who got two, up top the team had mobility and quality.”

Ancelotti brought Benzema back into the starting line-up after he had missed the semi-final win over Al Ahly with a thigh injury, with Rodrygo dropping to the bench.

The 35-year-old striker created the opening goal for Vinicius with a short pass to send the Brazilian winger through on goal.

After a frustrating spell in Spain because of racist abuse from the stands and opponents targeting him on the pitch, Vinicius was able to enjoy himself in Morocco, netting in both of Madrid’s matches and crowned player of the tournament.

The same went for the team as a whole, glad to take a short break from their domestic battle with Xavi Hernandez’s Barcelona to earn the title of world champions.

Valverde rifled the second goal home through defender Ali Albulayhi’s legs, leaving goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Mayoof unsighted.

Former Porto striker Moussa Marega pulled one back for the 2021 Asian Champions League winners, sliding a shot past Andriy Lunin, who should have done more to keep it out.

The Ukrainian goalkeeper, standing in for the injured Thibaut Courtois, was celebrating his birthday but despite the win he had a game to forget.

For a short period it seemed the Saudi Arabian side were going to truly test their more illustrious rivals, but Madrid stepped up a gear in the second half and secured an entertaining victory.

– Turning on the style –

Vinicius set up Benzema early in the second half with a stunning cross using the outside of his boot and the French forward made no mistake from close range.

Uruguayan midfielder Valverde netted his second goal after a slick combination with defender Dani Carvajal, finding his form and goals again after a dip in form.

Al Hilal pulled another goal back through ex-Atletico Madrid striker Luciano Vietto, who dinked an effort past Lunin.

Vinicius quickly hit back with a clinical strike but Vietto pounced with a clever turn and finish to cut the distance to two goals again.

Marega sent a good chance wide with 10 minutes to go, letting Madrid off the hook when he might have forced a nervy finale.

Earlier Brazilian Copa Libertadores winners Flamengo finished third with a 4-2 win over Egypt’s Al Ahly.