Manchester City kept the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday, overcoming a strong challenge from Nottingham Forest after Mikel Arteta’s men held their nerve to beat Tottenham.
A captivating three-way title race has turned into a showdown between Pep Guardiola’s City and Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, who are determined to make amends for last season’s late collapse.
Arsenal are on 80 points with just three games remaining, a point ahead of City, but the champions have a game in hand and remain favourites.
The Gunners raced into a 3-0 lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium early on Sunday, surviving a late scare to win 3-2 and temporarily move four points clear at the top of the table.
City, although not at their dominant best, fought back against a profligate Forest, who are fighting for their lives, with goals from Josko Gvardiol and Erling Haaland.
Croatian defender Gvardiol opened the scoring, heading in Kevin De Bruyne’s corner just after the half hour, and Haaland calmly scored after another assist from the impressive De Bruyne in the 71st minute to make it 2-0.
But Forest, who remain just one point clear of the relegation zone with three games to play, will rue a series of wasted opportunities, including two glaring misses from striker Chris Wood.
Guardiola was relieved with his team’s victory but warned against complacency in the final weeks of the season as they aim for a domestic trophy double.
He does not believe his team can afford to drop points as they chase an unprecedented fourth consecutive English top-flight title.
“We prefer them (Arsenal) to lose, we can’t control what they do, they get a good result,” said the City coach, whose team is unbeaten in 31 games in all competitions.
“There are four games left and I don’t think we can lose any points and we know exactly what we have to do.”
Nuno Espirito Santo’s Forest, staring down the hatch, are desperately hoping to claw back at least one point from their appeal against a four-point deduction for breaching Premier League financial rules.
-Arsenal Chase-
Arsenal know that if City win their remaining games they cannot be caught, but they show no sign of wilting under intense pressure.
Arteta’s men silenced the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a hat-trick effort before half-time.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s own goal put Arsenal ahead, before Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz scored to put Arsenal in complete control.
Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min scored for Tottenham after the break, setting up a nervy finish, but the visitors held on with their fingertips.
Arteta believes his team are better prepared to win the title than last season, when they stumbled badly in contention after being eight points clear at one stage.
The Spaniard revealed that he expected divine intervention in the nervous finals against Spurs.
“I was praying,” he said. “There were so many Spurs players in the box. It was a very emotional game. We had to try hard, suffer and react. I’m really pleased with the way the team did it.”
He added: “The margins are so small. Don’t get carried away. We want to be better. There are margins to improve. Go against Bournemouth again because it’s going to be very difficult.”
The defeat to fifth-placed Tottenham was a huge blow to their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
They remain seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa despite having two games in hand.
Liverpool were in the title race just a few weeks ago but have won just one of their last five matches and Jurgen Klopp will almost certainly have to settle for just the League Cup in his final season at Anfield.
Also on Sunday, Bournemouth beat Brighton 3-0, with goals from Marcos Senesi, Enes Unal and Justin Kluivert, setting a new points record for the club in the Premier League.
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