England man Leon Osman scores as Everton defeat Premier League champions Manchester City
England midfielder Leon Osman opened the scoring in a game that all but handed the Premier League title to Manchester United as Everton beat reigning champions Manchester City 2-0.
The 31-year-old curled home a sublime opener just after the half-an-hour mark after latching onto a Seamus Coleman centre. Nikica Jelavic struck in added time to seal the three points for David Moyes's men.
Osman was particularly pleased that his 30-yard effort had beaten Three Lions team-mate Joe Hart.
He said: “Joe's a fantastic 'keeper and to beat him from that range, I can't ask for more, I'm delighted.
“It maybe bobbled a bit as I hit it, but it went in the back of the net and gave us the goal that we needed to try to go on to win the match.”
Another of Osman's international team-mates, Wayne Rooney, made the most of the Toffees' victory as he struck the only goal of the game against Reading to send Manchester United 15 points clear at the top of the table.
Rio Ferdinand, who was last week recalled to the England fold, set up the goal by striding up the field before setting up Rooney to slot home his seventh goal in eight games at Old Trafford in 2013.
Meanwhile goalkeeper Ben Foster celebrated his recent England call-up with a clean sheet for West Brom at Stoke City. The 29-year-old had to be on his guard late on to repel a close-range Kenwyne Jones effort to bag his sixth Premier League clean sheet of the season.
Foster's manager Steve Clarke heaped praise on the stopper, saying: “In difficult conditions, his handling was excellent.
“He is a key element of our defensive unit. The clean sheet was very important to us as it is important to defend well, especially away from home."
Elsewhere, Liverpool fielded an impressive array of senior England international talent at Southampton as skipper Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Daniel Sturridge all played a part.
But it could not prevent Brendan Rodgers’s side from losing 3-1 against a confident home side who featured impressive displays from English trio Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and young Luke Shaw.