Premier League title race set for grandstand finish as Man City beat Arsenal in crunch contest

Manchester City are back in the title race after they beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday (April 19). In what was a crunch title deciding contest, goals from Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland were enough for the Citizens to set up a tense final few weeks in the season. The result means that only three points separate Arsenal (70 points from 33 matches) and Man City (67 points from 32 matches.

Man City close the gap

A defeat to City in the League Cup final last month has sparked a run of one win in six games across all competitions for Mikel Arteta's men, including four consecutive defeats in domestic competitions. Victory over relegation-bound Burnley on Wednesday will take City to the top for the first time this year. After finishing second for the past three seasons, Arsenal are at risk of seeing another huge chance to end their long wait to be champions of England slip away.

But they will also rue their luck after twice hitting the post, either side of Haaland's winner in the second half. 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. But the difference in quality up front proved the difference.

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. Guardiola's men looked to prey on Arsenal's anxiety in a blistering start. Cherki's deflected shot then came back off the post and City's claims for a penalty against Gabriel Magalhaes for handball were ignored.

The visitors were just starting to gain a foothold when a moment of magic from Cherki prised open the Gunners' notoriously mean defence. The French international danced through challenges from Gabriel and Declan Rice before coolly slotting in the bottom corner. However, Arsenal were handed an immediate lifeline thanks to Donnarumma's disaster.

The giant Italian was the scourge of Arteta's men during Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League semi-final run last season. But he handed them a gift as he dallied and allowed Havertz to charge down his attempted clearance into the top corner. The nature of the equaliser knocked City off their stride and it took until Guardiola's half-time team talk for the hosts to regain control.

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Haaland should have scored when he hit the post after Arsenal failed to clear a corner. But then came two moments that will haunt Arsenal if they fail to end their long wait to win the title. Donnarumma redeemed himself with a massive save when one-on-one with Havertz before Martin Odegaard's follow-up effort was hooked off the line by Matheus Nunes.

Moments later, Eberechi Eze hit the inside of the post and saw the ball roll agonisingly along the line rather than into Donnarumma's net. City pounced on their moment of fortune to retake the lead. Haaland outmuscled Gabriel to meet Nico O'Reilly's cross and hooked past David Raya.

Arsenal were denied by the woodwork once more when Gabriel's header deflected off O'Reilly onto the post and Havertz failed to turn in the rebound. Gabriel was then lucky to stay on the field after an attempted headbutt on Haaland, which received only a yellow card.

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But they had the chance to level when Havertz connected sweetly with Leandro Trossard's cross, but could not keep his header down. Arteta fell to the ground in disbelief, but now has the job of trying to raise his players for their final five games of the campaign.

Arsenal have, on paper, the kinder run-in, but appear to have run out of steam when it matters once more.