LONDON — Who needs Alexis Sanchez? That may have been the message Sergio Aguero was trying to deliver as he inspired runaway leader Manchester City to a 3-1 home victory over Newcastle Saturday.

City pulled out of the race to sign Arsenal striker Sanchez earlier this month, leaving the way clear for Manchester United to seal an expected deal for the highly rated Chile forward in the next few days.

Aguero has broken record after record in his seven years at City and once again underlined his importance to Pep Guardiola’s team by firing a hat trick against Newcastle, a team he scored five against in 2015.

“We’re really happy with the victory,” said Aguero after registering his 11th treble for the club and his second of the season. “We needed it after last week (losing 4-3 to Liverpool). It’s a long season though and we’ve not won anything yet.”

There was a minute’s applause at all the games, and players wore black armbands, as the Premier League paid tribute to former England striker Cyrille Regis, who died last Sunday at the age of 59.

Villarreal jumps up

Villarreal moved above Real Madrid and into the top four in La Liga after a 2-1 win over Levante Saturday that piled more pressure on the struggling champion’s coach Zinedine Zidane.

Valencia had two players sent off as it fell to a shock 2-1 defeat at lowly Las Palmas, while Atletico Madrid gave leader Barcelona the chance to pull 11 points clear after only drawing 1-1 with Girona.

A 26th-minute penalty from Manu Trigueros and Real youth product Denis Cheryshev’s first league goal in nearly two years saw Javier Calleja’s side, which beat Real at the Santiago Bernabeu for the first time ever last week, move up to 34 points, two ahead of Real.

Zidane’s team is fifth, level on 32 points with Sevilla, which crushed Espanyol 3-0 in a dominant display in Catalonia that gave Vincenzo Montella his first league win since arriving in Spain in late December.

Madrid does have two games in hand on the teams around it, though, and host Deportivo Sunday.

Cheryshev’s tap-in, the first goal in La Liga for the injury-plagued attacker since March 2016, sealed the deal against Levante, which pulled one back with a stoppage-time penalty from Roger.

Russian international Cheryshev clattered into the post after charging down the left flank to tap home Enes Unal’s low cross, but after some time on the ground in pain, struggled on until being substituted in the 65th minute.

Antoine Griezmann’s first goal in six league games wasn’t enough for Atletico as they drew 1-1 with Girona and gave Barcelona a chance to extend their lead at the top.

The draw at the Wanda Metropolitano means Atletico is second and eight points behind Barca, which can almost end discussion over the league title with a win at Real Betis Sunday.

Atletico stays second on 43 points, three points ahead of Valencia. — Agencies