A defeat which relaunches the race for the title: in a match not to be lost against its runner-up, Arsenal was stunned on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium by Manchester City (2-1), who are attacking the Premier League leader.
With this victory obtained thanks to two goals from Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland, the Mancuniens – who have a match in hand against Crystal Palace to play – are only three points behind the Londoners, with five days remaining.
In an intense match that looked like a final, the Citizens confirmed their spring resurgence, facing the Gunners who were in full doubt after already two title possibilities gone in a few weeks (League Cup and FA Cup), and a narrow qualification in the semi-final of the Champions League against Sporting Portugal.
While Arsenal had the opportunity last Saturday to put City on twelve points and saw their first coronation approaching since 2004, Mikel Arteta’s men were under pressure.
“There is always pressure (…). We have to stay focused on ourselves,” Gunners midfielder Martin Odegaard responded to Sky Sports, saying “of course” he still believes in the title. “Two weeks ago, this scenario seemed improbable,” rejoiced Bernardo Silva, whose departure City announced at the end of the season after nine years at the club. “The season is long, and a lot of small details have not pleased us so far. »
Despite the fiery legs of a still untenable Jérémy Doku on his left wing, and the talent of Frenchman Rayan Cherki, Pep Guardiola’s players nevertheless struggled to succeed in making the leader give in.
Forced to win to get closer to the title, the Citizen immediately posed danger to the cages of David Raya, close to being countered by Haaland (4th), before Cherki found a post (5th).
A short-lived respite: the detonator for the Mancunians, Cherki left the Gunners defenders in place in a superb slalom, before finding Raya’s small net (16th).
Donnarumma with two faces
But City immediately gave up this advantage in the score, because of a big error from Donnarumma, countered by Kai Havertz (18th), who was not asking for so much to score his first goal in more than a year in the Premier League.
Ever more pressing in the second period, the Citizens found the post (48th) or Raya (52nd) on their way, before trembling themselves in the face of the Gunners’ revolt.
Unhappy in the first half, Donnarumma turned into a hero in the second, with a double save on Havertz and Martinelli (60th), then with a quick restart, which sowed panic in the Arsenal defense. At the end of this action, a still-opportunistic Haaland gave City the advantage (64th).
In a tense end to the match, where the cards rained down and where Donnarumma was saved by his post on a header from Gabriel deflected by Nico O’Reilly, the Mancuniens held on to this essential success in the title race, despite a final header from Havertz who fled the cages (90th+6). Without shining, but thanks to a headed goal in added time from Virgil van Dijk (90th + 1) from a corner, Liverpool for their part snatched the derby against Everton (2-1) to the wire, and distanced their pursuers in qualifying for the Champions League.
Eliminated in the quarter-finals of the queen of European competitions by Paris SG, the Reds are now seven points ahead of Chelsea (6th), beaten the day before by Manchester United (1-0), the Blues’ fourth consecutive defeat in the league.
Liverpool are three lengths behind Aston Villa (4th), who snatched victory against Sunderland (4-3) in stoppage time during a crazy match, where the Villans led 3-1 before being hung 3-3.
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