Manchester City's Spanish manager Pep Guardiola (C) celebrates with his backroom staff as City players celebrate their win after the English League Cup final football match between Aston Villa and Manchester City at Wembley stadium in London on March 1, 2020. (GLYN KIRK / AFP)

LONDON - Manchester City claimed the first title of the season in England on Sunday when they beat Aston Villa 2-1 in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley to win the competition for the fourth time in five years.

All of the goals came in the first half with Kun Aguero and Rodrigo Hernandez putting Pep Guardiola's side 2-0 ahead in the first half hour, before Mbawa Aly Samatta pulling one back for Villa four minutes before the break.

Liverpool's dream of remaining unbeaten all season was ended as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Watford

A City side with various changes in their starting 11 controlled the game, but Villa almost took the game into extra time when Bjorn Engels' header was pushed onto the post by City keeper Claudio Bravo.

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In the Premier League, Liverpool's dream of remaining unbeaten all season was ended as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Watford - their first league defeat in 44 games, stretching back over 420 days.

Champions-elect Liverpool came into Saturday's match with a 22-point lead at the top of the table having dropped just two points all season long, and would have been confident of extending their 18-game winning streak at relegation-threatened Watford.

However, Liverpool reckoned without a superb performance from the home side, with two goals from Ismaila Sarr and one from captain Troy Deeney condemning the Reds to their first Premier League defeat of the season. Central defender Dejan Lovren had a nightmare return to the Liverpool starting 11 and never looked comfortable.

Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp tried to put a positive spin on the defeat, saying it would take the pressure off his side. "Now we can play free football again, it is rather positive," said Klopp.

Despite an uncharacteristically poor performance, Liverpool remain well on course for their first league title in 30 years, while Watford climb out of the drop zone to sit 17th.

Third place Leicester City also lost to struggling opponents as Jamal Lewis' impressive strike in the 70th minute gave bottom of the table Norwich all three points and a fighting chance that they can claw their way out of the bottom three.

Liverpool's German manager Jurgen Klopp (C), Liverpool's Scottish defender Andrew Robertson (L) and Liverpool's English midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain react at the final whistle during the English Premier League football match between Watford and Liverpool at Vicarage Road Stadium in Watford, north of London on Feb 29, 2020. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

Everton had what would have been an injury time winner ruled out for offside in their 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United.

Everton took the lead in the third minute after Dominic Calvert-Lewin charged down David de Gea's clearance and the ball ended up in the United net. Bruno Fernandes continued his excellent start to life in Manchester with the equalizing goal and almost scored the winner only to be denied by Jordan Pickford in the last minute of the game.

The home side thought they had scored deep in injury time, but the goal was ruled out for a positional offside against midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson and Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti was sent off for his complaints after the final whistle.

Wolves took a big step towards a top-four finish as they won 3-2 away to Tottenham with Raul Jimenez scoring the winning goal for the visitors with 17 minutes left to play.

Wolves twice came back from behind to overturn goals from Steven Bergwijn and Serge Aurier with strikes from Matt Doherty and Diego Jota to set the stage for Jimenez's decisive strike which lifts his side up to sixth.

West Ham fans protested against their club's owners outside of the London Stadium ahead of their side's 3-1 win at home to Southampton, but once inside the ground, they had reason to celebrate as recent signing Jarrod Bowen scored the first goal of the game and produced a man-of the match display.

Michael Obefami drew Southampton level on the half hour, but first goals from Sebastian Haller and Michail Antonio gave David Moyes' side a vital and morale boosting win.

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Chelsea continue to frustrate, although they ended a difficult week, which saw them outclassed at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, with a point thanks to two goals from full back Marcos Alonso in a 2-2 draw away to Bournemouth.

Alonso opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, before quickfire goals from Jefferson Lerma and Josh King saw Bournemouth turn the game around in the 54th and 57th minutes before Alonso headed home the equalizer (which sends Bournemouth back into the bottom three) with five minutes left to play.

Meanwhile, Newcastle and Burnley drew 0-0 in a game of few chances.