MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester City smashed through the 100-goal barrier in the Premier League with a 4-0 win over Aston Villa on Wednesday that moved the team two points clear with a game left and within touching distance of a second title in three years. Walter McCarty Jersey . City turned a match gripped with tension into a procession with four goals in the final 26 minutes, with Edin Dzekos double ending Villas stubborn resistance and Yaya Toures spectacular solo goal completing the scoring in injury time. A draw at home to West Ham on Sunday will be enough for City to settle a thrilling title race, with only Liverpool capable of stopping them. Chelsea, in third place, has been knocked out of contention. If City does go on to capture the championship, it will have done so in style under attack-minded coach Manuel Pellegrini -- just as was desired by the clubs Abu Dhabi owners. "In the way we play, I am very happy to win the title this way," said Pellegrini, speaking as if the Premier League trophy was already in Citys hands. "There are different ways to win titles -- I choose this one with attractive football ... Maybe you can win titles other ways. For me, the esthetic part is very important." City has been most pundits favourite the whole season but the team is doing it the hard way -- just like in 2012 when it won the title with two injury-time goals in its final match. Pellegrinis side has been top for just 11 days this season - compared to 59 for Liverpool, 64 for third-place Chelsea and 128 for fourth-place Arsenal. But City has hit form just as Liverpool has started to blunder, dropping five points in its last two games. City, by contrast, has won its last four matches and has a superior goal difference of 13 to Liverpool. Also Wednesday, Sunderland beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 to guarantee another season in the Premier League and virtually relegate Norwich, which is three points behind West Brom but with a much inferior goal difference. There was a party atmosphere inside Etihad Stadium as City fans celebrated Toures brilliant goal, a powerful run through Villas defence from inside his own half. For the first 63 minutes, however, it had been very different. Villas packed defence had held firm under constant pressure and it was looking like one of those nights for City. Pellegrini remained calm on the touchline, though, and the hosts didnt abandon their passing philosophy, eventually making the breakthrough in the 64th when full back Pablo Zabaleta -- on yet another raid down the right -- crossed for Dzeko to steer home from close range. The goal was greeted by an outpouring of relief by the home fans but Dzeko -- and Zabaleta for that matter -- werent finished. From another teasing centre by Zabaleta, Samir Nasris effort was saved by goalkeeper Brad Guzan but the ball landed at the feet of Dzeko, who dribbled the ball into the corner in the 72nd for his fifth goal in three games. Villa started to push forward and that played into Citys hands. Toure cut the ball back for substitute Stevan Jovetic to curl a low shot into the corner from the edge of the area in the 89th, before the Ivory Coast midfielder capped the win with an emphatic fourth, his 20th of the campaign. "An amazing amount of goals," Pellegrini said, who hailed Toure as "the absolute complete midfielder." Chelseas Frank Lampard is the only other central midfielder to score 20 or more goals in the Premier League era, in the 2009-10 season. A month ago, Sunderland manager Gus Poyet said it would be a "miracle" if his team stayed up but thats exactly what it has done after first-half goals by Jack Colback and Fabio Borini against West Brom. Sunderland has picked up 13 points from its last five matches -- including wins over Chelsea and Manchester United and a draw at City. "I dont know if you will see something similar ever again," said Poyet, whose team is only the second since the Premier League started in 1992 to be last at Christmas and stay up. Despite the loss, West Brom is effectively safe as it is three points clear of Norwich but with a goal difference 17 better ahead of Sundays final round of the season. Bob Cousy Jersey . "I just think what it does for everybody in life is real simple," said Babcock early on Friday afternoon. "You dont give in. You just keep on keeping on. Is it going to go your way every time? No. But you choose your attitude and how you perform and how hard you dig in." Nearly four years to the day of the 2010 gold medal match in Vancouver, his team dug in with its best effort of these Olympics, snuffing out the high-powered Americans for another opportunity at gold. Boston Celtics Gear . The Pope greeted Klose at his general audience Wednesday and the pair had a long chat. Klose is German like the pope, although he was born in Poland. In Sundays derby, Lazio took the lead in the seventh minute after Maarten Stekelenburg brought down Klose, resulting in the Roma goalkeeper being sent off and a penalty that Hernanes converted. https://www.cheapceltics.com/ . Redden played a total of 1,023 regular-season games with Ottawa, the New York Rangers, St. Louis and Boston. He finished with 457 points (109 goals, 348 assists) and a plus-160 rating over his career.LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Magic Johnson wants the Los Angeles Lakers to lose every game this season for their own good.Coach Byron Scott thinks theyre better off learning how to win, and thats just what they did several hours after Magics latest pointed comments.Johnson discussed the struggling Lakers on Tuesday at a promotional appearance in New York, and the Hall of Famer dished out some blunt thoughts on the 16-time champion franchises future.I hope the Lakers lose every game, the former Lakers point guard said. Because if youre going to lose, lose. And Im serious. If youre going to lose, youve got to lose, because you cant be in the middle of the pack. You either have to be great, or youve got to be bad to get a good pick.A few hours later, Scott responded to his former Lakers backcourt mate by stressing the importance of establishing a winning climate surrounding Kobe Bryant. Scott says tanking wouldnt be entertained by the Lakers, whose 6-16 record is tied for the second-worst in the Western Conference.Thats easy to say, but when youre behind the scenes and youre in the trenches and youre coaching, thats not something that you want to do, Scott said. Weve got to go out here and win every game possible. I mean, if you lose games, thats one thing. But to go out and try to lose, thats a different story. I think that sends a message to those guys in there that its going back to that losing mentality. We dont we want to create that here.Bryant scored 32 points in the Lakers 98-95 win over Sacramento on Tuesday night, snapping a three-game skid. Kobe also wants no part of Magics plan.Hes used to being an owner, Bryant said with a laugh. Hes the owner of the Dodgers. He was an owner of the Lakerrs. Bill Russell Jersey. Thats speaking from an owners perspective. ... I think the fans — hopefully some of them — are smart enough to understand his perspective as an owner. I certainly am. Magic is one of the most competitive players of all-time. He doesnt want to lose. From where Im sitting, I just look at his point of view.Scott also laughed off the extemporaneous comments by Johnson, his good friend. Johnson was viciously critical of former Lakers coach Mike DAntoni in the previous two seasons, but has pledged to be supportive to Scott and the current team.Under DAntoni, the Lakers finished last season 27-55 — the most losses in franchise history and their worst winning percentage in more than a half-century.While longing for losses, Johnson also expressed optimism about the Lakers salary cap space next summer and their long-term future. He also knows another top draft pick could help: The Lakers chose Julius Randle with the seventh overall pick last year, but the teenager broke his leg on opening night and was lost for the season.The Lakers are in a good space, too (for) next summer if they can sign or trade for a talented guy, Johnson said. So Id rather be all the way bad than be in the middle like we were for a couple of those years we were getting the eighth, 10th, 12th pick. You cant get better by doing that.Scott would rather return the Lakers to success the old-fashioned way.If you go out here and play hard, youll hopefully get rewarded in the right way, Scott said. You can get the type of player that you want, that can come in here and help you the next year in the draft, and free agent-wise. But the last thing on my mind is losing games right now. At least on purpose. ' ' '