Man City beat Arsenal to blow EPL title race open

Manchester City blew the Premier League title race wide open by defeating Arsenal 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium to move within three points of long-time leaders and hold a game advantage with which to close that gap.

City, who have only been top for a total of six days this season, will have the chance to overtake Arsenal by beating next-to-last Burnley on Wednesday.

After Rayan Cherki’s stunning solo effort opened the scoring, City gifted the visitors a route back into the game when Kai Havertz charged down GIanluigi Donnarumma’s attempted clearance to equalise.

Erling Haaland pounced to sweep in his 34th goal of the season 25 minutes from time before Havertz headed over a glorious chance deep into stoppage time.

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The remainder of the campaign would then be decided by a tense five-game run-in, with the Gunners needing to balance the demands of Europe simultaneously.

Arsenal were undoubtedly out to prove critics wrong. Their last three domestic outings – against City in the Carabao Cup final, Southampton in the FA Cup, and Bournemouth in the Premier League – had all ended disastrously.