Manchester City tops Arsenal to pull within two points of Premier League leaders Liverpool
Manchester City rode Sergio Aguero’s hat tick Sunday in a 3-1 win over Arsenal, vaulting the defending Premier League champions past Tottenham and back into second place and within two points of Prem frontrunner Liverpool.
The Reds can restore their five-point advantage on Monday against West Ham. But City did its part in the weekend’s marquee contest, rebounding from a shocking midweek defeat at Newcastle United.
Aguero opened the scoring before the match was a minute old, when Aymeric Laporte caught Gunners defender Alex Iwobi in possession just outside his own penalty area. Laporte delivered a perfect cross onto the forehead of the little Argentine, who powered his diving header past keeper Bernd Leno (via NBC Sports):
The hosts could have doubled their advantage just after the restart, when Aguero went down in the box after having his shirt tugged by Shkodran Mustafi. But appeals from manager Pep Guardiola and his players fell on deaf ears.
Then, against the odds and the run of play, Arsenal leveled the score off a corner kick, with veteran defender Laurent Koscielny nodding home the equalizer from the doorstep:
Arsenal grew into the game from that point, with confidence and momentum on its side. But just when it looked as though the visitors might make it to halftime on even terms, Aguero finished off a gorgeous sequence that began with İlkay Gundogan’s chip over the Gunners’ backline to Raheem Sterling, who volleyed a first-time pass for Aguero to essentially walk into the net:
To their credit, Unai Emery’s men looked up for a fight when the second half began. And they stood toe-to-toe with the defending champs for the first quarter-hour of the final stanza. But after Aguero capped his hat trick off service from Sterling in the 61st minute, the outcome was never in doubt.
City fully deserved the points. Even with Emery’s team trailing for the majority of the game, the hosts controlled the ball almost 60 percent of the time. They outshot Arsenal 19-4 overall, including an astounding 12-2 in on-target attempts. If not for Leno, the result would’ve been even more lopsided.
It’s a tough loss for take for Emery and his team, which, combined with Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Leicester earlier in the day, dropped the Gunners one point behind United into fifth with a huge tilt against the Red Devils looming next month.
Meantime, the Sky Blues rebounded against a quality foe and, crucially, kept pace with Liverpool, which now finds itself in close to a must-win match vs. West Ham on Monday. For if the Reds drop points in that one, the Premier League title race will be blown wide open yet again.
Guardiola’s squad can’t afford another slip-up, however, and the schedule is about to get crazy. A tricky visit to Everton is on the docket this week followed by an even tougher test next Sunday, when Chelsea visits the City of Manchester Stadium. As convincing as the performance against Arsenal was, who know where things might stand a week from now?
Doug McIntyre covers soccer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Watch Super Bowl LIII pregame and then Patriots-Rams on Yahoo Sports app
• Gonzalez, Reed, Bailey headline 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame class
• Report: Lakers players confronted Walton after loss to Warriors
• Get ready for your draft with our Fantasy Baseball top 300 rankings
