Premier League: Man City run riot against Arsenal; Chelsea lose fifth consecutive game
Manchester City struck a hammer blow in the Premier League title race as they outclassed leaders Arsenal 4-1 with an electrifying display in a seismic clash of the top two at the Etihad on Wednesday.
Pep Guardiola’s relentless side ran riot as they made it 12 successive league wins against Arsenal with a masterful Kevin De Bruyne scoring twice and Erling Haaland also on target as City seized control of their destiny.
De Bruyne fired City ahead in the seventh minute and City bombarded Arsenal’s goal before John Stones deservedly doubled their lead with a header in first-half stoppage time.
Arsenal, who began the clash five points clear but having drawn three successive games, looked powerless to stop their hosts and when De Bruyne struck again early in the second half it became a damage-limitation operation for the leaders.
Rob Holding grabbed an 86th-minute consolation but it was too little too late for Mikel Arteta’s side and City now look firm favourites to claim a fifth title in six seasons.
Haaland finally got on the scoresheet in stoppage time to take his tally for the season to 49.
City’s seventh successive league win left them with 73 points to Arsenal’s 75, but crucially they have played two fewer games than the Londoners whose hopes of a first title since 2004 now look forlorn after four games without a win.
Guardiola’s City, who have trailed Arsenal for almost the entire season, will go top if they beat Fulham at the weekend.
Arsenal began knowing a first league victory against City since 2015 would put them back in charge of the race after a damaging April in which points were frittered away.
Unlike against Southampton in a frenetic 3-3 draw on Friday they managed to get through the opening minute on Wednesday unscathed.
But the writing was on the wall as Haaland showed great strength to control a high ball and then send De Bruyne racing away into space with a neat pass and the Belgian ran through before nonchalantly curling a skidding shot inside the post.
City sensed Arsenal’s fragility and went for the jugular, tearing through the visitors’ lines at will.
De Bruyne looked poised for a carbon copy of his opener as Arsenal’s high-line defence was again caught out but this time his shot was blocked and minutes later Ramsdale managed to keep out Haaland’s close-range effort after the Norwegian bullied his way through more flimsy defending.
Haaland then forced another sharp save from Ramsdale before Arsenal finally threatened with Thomas Partey shooting narrowly wide. The onslaught continued though and Haaland thought he had scored only to see his left-footed shot flash wide.
Ramsdale denied Haaland again and just when Arsenal thought they might reach halftime only a goal down, Stones rose to head in De Bruyne’s flighted delivery in stoppage time.
The goal was initially ruled out for offside but a VAR check showed Stones was played on by Ben White’s foot.
If Arsenal still harboured any hopes of salvaging something they vanished in the 54th minute when Haaland, who could have had a hat-trick himself, fed De Bruyne for another clinical classy finish past Ramsdale.
City, with eyes firmly on a treble, throttled back slightly and Arsenal gave their fans some late cheer when Holding lashed home a shot from the edge of the area.
Brentford condemned Chelsea to their fifth defeat in five games in all competitions under interim coach Frank Lampard on Wednesday as an own goal by Blues’ captain Cesar Azpilicueta and a second-half strike by Bryan Mbeumo handed the Bees a 2-0 win in the Premier League.
The loss left toothless Chelsea 11th in the Premier League table, stumbling towards possibly their worst campaign since the 1993/94 season – when they finished 14th under Glenn Hoddle – despite their new US owners’ huge outlay on players.
Brentford went ahead when defender Mathias Jorgensen headed from a corner at the near post and the ball struck Azpilicueta and went in after 37 minutes, before the visitors had even had a shot of their own on target.
Lampard – Chelsea’s third coach this season after the dismissals of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter – brought on winger Mykhailo Mudryk and striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at halftime as he sought to end a goal drought that has now seen the London side score only once in seven games in all competitions.
But it was substitute Mbeumo who showed the Blues how to do it in the 78th minute when he drifted in from the right and his fiercely hit shot was deflected beyond Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The three points pushed Brentford up a spot to ninth in the league, eight points ahead of their big-spending west London neighbours for whom this season cannot finish quickly enough. Media reports said Chelsea were close to hiring former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino as coach from next season.
A bullet header from Joel Matip gave Liverpool a 2-1 Premier League win over West Ham United that moved them above Tottenham Hotspur and back into the European places after a frenetic end-to-end game at the London Stadium on Wednesday.
The Reds are in sixth spot in the table on 53 points, ahead of Spurs thanks to their far superior goal difference and one point behind Aston Villa with a game in hand as they seek to salvage a disappointing season.
Brazilian forward Danilo scored his first goal for Nottingham Forest to help seal a 3-1 Premier League victory over Europe-chasing Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday, a win that moves his side out of the relegation zone.
