{"id":19560,"date":"2026-04-19T22:38:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=19560"},"modified":"2026-04-19T22:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:38:05","slug":"man-city-beat-arsenal-2-1-cut-premier-league-race-to-three-points-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=19560","title":{"rendered":"Man City beat Arsenal 2-1, cut Premier League race to three points | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Manchester City are breathing down Arsenal\u2019s necks after Erling Haaland\u2019s strike helped beat the Gunners 2-1 to land a potentially decisive blow in the English Premier League title race.<\/p>\n

Haaland picked the perfect time \u2060to end \u2060his lean spell in the crucial victory over \u2060the football league leaders to give his side the edge in the title race on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Norwegian had not \u2060scored in the league since February but his emphatic finish after 65 minutes of a compelling Etihad Stadium showdown proved decisive.<\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola\u2019s men close to within three points of the leaders and have a game in hand with momentum firmly in their favour as Arsenal\u2019s quest for a first league title in 22 years unravels.<\/p>\n

Defeat to City in the League Cup final last month has sparked a run of one win in six games in all competitions for Mikel Arteta\u2019s men, including four consecutive defeats in domestic competitions.<\/p>\n

Victory over relegation-bound Burnley on Wednesday will take City to the top for the first time this year, and Haaland admitted every game will be akin to \u201ca final\u201d for his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game is a final,\u201d he said after the match. \u201cWe have to focus on recovery and prepare for Burnley. It is as important as this game. We have to stay humble and focus on the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n

City\u2019s outgoing captain Bernardo Silva was full of praise for the number nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cErling was fantastic today,\u201d Silva told Sky Sports. \u201cIt is not easy with centre-backs that strong. He fought like an animal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silva admitted the win marked a huge moment in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery big [win] because it puts us in a position if we win our game in hand, we\u2019re on the same points,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo weeks ago, this didn\u2019t look very likely, this scenario. I\u2019m happy we can be on the same points.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MANCHESTER,
Manchester City\u2019s manager Pep Guardiola celebrated with goal scorer Erling Haaland after the football match [Carl Recine\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After finishing second for the past three seasons, Arsenal are at risk of seeing another huge chance to end their long wait to be the football champions of England slip away.<\/p>\n

They will also rue their luck after twice hitting the post, either side of Haaland\u2019s winner in the second half.<\/p>\n

After Rayan Cherki\u2019s stunning solo effort opened the scoring, City gifted the visitors a route back into the game when Kai Havertz charged down Gianluigi Donnarumma\u2019s attempted clearance to equalise. But the difference in quality up front proved the difference.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Guardiola\u2019s men looked to prey on Arsenal\u2019s anxiety in a blistering start.<\/p>\n

Cherki\u2019s deflected shot then came back off the post, and City claims for a penalty against Gabriel Magalhaes for handball were ignored.<\/p>\n

The visitors were just starting to gain a foothold when a moment of magic from Cherki prised open the Gunners\u2019 notoriously mean defence.\u00a0The French international danced through challenges from Gabriel and Declan Rice before coolly slotting in the bottom corner.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Rayan Cherki scored City\u2019s first goal [Lee Smith\/Action Images via Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arsenal, though, were handed an immediate lifeline thanks to Donnarumma\u2019s disaster.<\/p>\n

The giant Italian was the scourge of Arteta\u2019s men when playing for Paris Saint-Germain in last season\u2019s Champions League semifinals. But he handed them a gift as he dallied and allowed Havertz to charge down his attempted clearance into the top corner.<\/p>\n

The nature of the equaliser knocked City off their stride, and it took until Guardiola\u2019s half-time team talk for the hosts to regain control.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Donnarumma redeemed himself with a massive save when one-on-one with Havertz before Martin Odegaard\u2019s follow-up effort was hooked off the line by Matheus Nunes.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Man City\u2019s Gianluigi Donnarumma made a crucial save in the first half [Lee Smith\/Action Images via Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moments later, Eberechi Eze hit the inside of the post and saw the ball roll agonisingly along the line rather than into Donnarumma\u2019s net.<\/p>\n

City pounced on their moment of fortune to retake the lead.\u00a0Haaland outmuscled Gabriel to meet Nico O\u2019Reilly\u2019s cross and hooked past David Raya.<\/p>\n

Arsenal were denied by the woodwork once more when Gabriel\u2019s header deflected off O\u2019Reilly onto the post, and Havertz failed to turn in the rebound.<\/p>\n

Gabriel was then lucky to stay on the field after an attempted headbutt on Haaland received only a yellow card.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Arsenal\u2019s Gabriel Magalhaes clashed with Man City\u2019s Erling Haaland [Lee Smith\/Action Images via Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But they had the chance to level when Havertz connected sweetly with Leandro Trossard\u2019s cross, but could not keep his header down.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Arsenal have on paper the kinder run-in, but appear to have run out of steam when it matters once more.<\/p>\n

Arteta rued his side\u2019s missed goal-scoring opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you don\u2019t [take the chances] and they have the individual quality, that\u2019s the risk,\u201d the former Man City assistant coach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an element of luck, whether the ball goes in or not. The second goal, the ball gets deflected and it goes to Haaland. There is an individual quality as well, to be cool, precise and ruthless. You have to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see right to the end of the game the attitude of the team. We could have been more composed in certain moments, but we certainly took the game to areas where we wanted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the loss, the Spaniard said his team has time to reset before the next game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost an opportunity today, a big one. But there are still another five [matches] to go. There are still a lot of positives [to take from] today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MANCHESTER,
Arsenal\u2019s players look dejected after their team\u2019s loss [Michael Regan\/Getty Images]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n


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Manchester City are breathing down Arsenal\u2019s necks after Erling Haaland\u2019s strike helped beat the Gunners 2-1 to land a potentially decisive blow in the English Premier League title race. Haaland picked the perfect time \u2060to end \u2060his lean spell in the crucial victory over \u2060the football league leaders to give his side the edge in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}