MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City swung the Premier League title race in its favor by beating Arsenal 2-1 on Sunday thanks to a second-half winner by Erling Haaland.
Haaland’s league-leading 23rd goal of the campaign in the 65th minute allowed City to trim the gap to Arsenal, the long-time frontrunner, to three points. City has a game in hand at Burnley on Wednesday, after which Pep Guardiola’s team could have taken over as leaders.
Rayan Cherki
gave City the lead in the 16th minute of a frenetic match at Etihad Stadium by weaving into the area and converting a shot in off the inside of the post.
Arsenal was back level inside two minutes after Kai Havertz charged down Gianluigi Donnarumma’s clearance, with the ball rebounding into the net from close range.
Both Haaland and Arsenal's Eberechi Eze struck the goal frame before Haaland slotted home a low shot from Nico O'Reilly's cross, dealing a huge blow to Arsenal's hopes of a first league championship since 2004.
City is expected to beat Burnley, but has a tougher run-in than Arsenal that includes trips to Everton and Bournemouth.
Unlike City, which is unbeaten in 10 league games, Arsenal is struggling for form, having lost four of its last six games in all competitions — including its last two in the league.
Mikel Arteta's team, the league runner-up for the past three seasons, also has to balance playing in the Champions League after reaching the semifinals.
Liverpool and Aston Villa look to be headed for the Champions League after grabbing stoppage-time winners on Sunday.
Virgil van Dijk headed home in the 10th minute of added-on time to earn Liverpool a 2-1 victory at Everton in a Merseyside derby featuring a record-tying goal from Mohamed Salah.
Salah, who is leaving Liverpool at the end of the season after nine trophy-filled seasons, marked his final derby by slotting in a low finish in the 29th minute. His ninth Merseyside derby goal drew him even with Liverpool great Steven Gerrard for the most in the Premier League era (since 1992).
It was Liverpool’s other stalwart, Van Dijk, who sealed the win by turning in a corner by Dominik Szoboszlai.
There was so much stoppage time because Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili was forced off on a stretcher after sustaining an injury attempting in vain to save a 54th-minute shot by Beto that brought Everton level.
Villa, meanwhile, beat Sunderland 4-3 thanks to Tammy Abraham’s goal in the third minute of stoppage time.
Fourth-placed Villa moved 10 points ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea. Liverpool is in between them, but stretched its advantage over Chelsea to seven points.
The top five in the Premier League will qualify for the Champions League.
Morgan Gibbs-White scored a second-half hat trick as Nottingham Forest rallied to beat Burnley 4-1 and further boost its survival hopes.
Forest moved five points clear of third-to-last Tottenham in the relegation zone, while next-to-last Burnley slipped closer to the drop to the Championship.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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