Manchester City kept the heat on Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday, seeing off a feisty challenge from Nottingham Forest after Mikel Arteta’s men held their nerve to beat Tottenham.
A captivating three-way title race has become a duel between Pep Guardiola’s City and Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, who are determined to make amends for last season’s late collapse.
Arsenal has 80 points with just three matches to go, one point clear of City, but the champions crucially have a game in hand and remain the firm favorites.
The Gunners raced into a 3-0 lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the early kick-off on Sunday, surviving a late fright to win 3-2 and temporarily move four points clear at the top of the table.
City, though not at its dominating best, battled past profligate Forest, which is fighting for its lives, with goals from Josko Gvardiol and Erling Haaland.
Croatia defender Gvardiol opened the scoring, heading in Kevin De Bruyne’s corner shortly after the half-hour mark, and Haaland coolly slotted home after another assist from the impressive De Bruyne in the 71st minute to make it 2-0.
But Forest, who remains just one point clear of the drop zone with three games to play, will rue a number of squandered opportunities, including two glaring misses from forward Chris Wood.
Guardiola was relieved that his team had come out on top but warned against complacency in the final weeks of the season as they hunt a domestic trophy double.
He does not believe his team can afford to drop any points as they chase an unprecedented fourth straight English top-flight title.
“We prefer they (Arsenal) lose, we cannot control what they do, they make a good result,” said the City boss, whose team are now unbeaten in 31 matches in all competitions. “Four games left, I don’t think we can lose any points and we know exactly what we have to do.”
Nuno Espirito Santo’s Forest, staring at the trap door, will desperately hope to recover at least one point from its appeal against a four-point deduction for breaking Premier League financial rules.
Arsenal knows if City wins its remaining games, it cannot be caught, but it shows no signs of wilting under intense pressure.
Arteta’s men silenced the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a three-goal blast before half-time.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s own goal put Arsenal ahead before Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz netted to leave Arsenal in complete control.
Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min struck for Tottenham after the interval to set up a nervous finish, but the visitors clung on by their fingertips.
Arteta believes his team are better equipped to win the title than last season, when they stumbled badly in the run-in, having been eight points clear at one stage.
The Spaniard revealed he was hoping for divine intervention in the nervy closing stages against Spurs.
“I was praying,” he said. “There were so many Spurs players in the box. It was a really emotional game. We had to dig in and suffer and react. I’m very pleased with the way the team has done it.”
Defeat for fifth-place Tottenham dealt a huge blow to its chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. It remains seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, though it has two games in hand.
Liverpool was in the box seat in the title race just weeks ago but has won just one of their past five matches, and Jurgen Klopp will almost certainly have to content himself with just the League Cup in his final season at Anfield.
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