EPL: Man City Narrow Arsenal Lead to Two Points 

*Cityzens with two games at hand can go top at Fulham on Sunday

Manchester City delivered a masterclass to overwhelm Premier League leaders Arsenal 4-1 and strike a huge psychological blow in the title race at Etihad Stadium last night.

The confrontation billed as a potential title-decider turned into an embarrassingly one-sided affair.

Pep Guardiola’s side, now two points behind Arsenal with two games in hand, were inspired by the devastating partnership of Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne.

Haaland set De Bruyne away for a silky opener after seven minutes, and Arsenal then survived a constant bombardment of attacks before John Stones headed home from a corner in first-half stoppage time, the goal given by VAR after originally being ruled offside.

City goal machine Haaland was outstanding and again setting up De Bruyne for the third in the 54th minute, the Belgian passing a classy finish between the legs of Gunners defender Rob Holding.

Holding pulled one back for Arsenal late on before Haaland, denied four times by Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale earlier in the match, sealed a memorable night with his 49th City goal. Haaland broke the Premier League record for goals in a 38-game season after scoring his 33rd of the season. 

However, he’s still not the highest single-season goalscorer in the league’s history, after Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer both nabbed 34 goals in 1993-94 and 1994-95 respectively.

City can go top with victory at Fulham on Sunday while Arsenal must somehow pull out of a slump that has seen them go four league games without a win at a crucial stage of the season.

Elsewhere, Nottingham Forest defeated Brighton 3-1 to leapfrog both Leicester City and Everton to the 17th spot on the Premier League last night.  Forest are now on 30 points while Leicester have  29 on same 33 points. Only Everton on 28 and in the 19th spot have an outstanding game at hand.

SCORING RECORD IN 

38-GAME EPL SEASON

33 – Erling Haaland (2022-23) 

32 – Mohamed Salah (2017-18) 

31 – Luis Suárez (2013-14) 

31 – Cristiano Ronaldo (2007-08) 

31 – Alan Shearer (1995-96)