FOOTBALL – Manchester City kept the pressure firmly on Premier League leaders Arsenal with a nervy 1-0 victory at Leeds United yesterday, pulling within two points of top spot courtesy of Antoine Semenyo’s strike on the stroke of halftime.
City, who were without league-leading scorer Erling Haaland, were made to work at Elland Road, but the victory took Pep Guardiola’s side to 59 points.
Arsenal, who have also played 28 games, host Chelsea today as the title race tightens.
Leeds had the better first-half chances, including a couple of near-misses by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, before Semenyo scored his sixth goal for City in first-half injury time.
Rayan Ait Nouri was sent through on the left side of the box and Semenyo slid to touch home his square ball from close range.
“It means everything,” Semenyo told Sky Sports on cutting the gap to two points.
“I think we just want to win all our games and whatever Arsenal do we just have to wait and see.”
“We just need to control what we can control, win our games, and yeah, we’ll see what happens. But we’re all happy.”
Second-placed City’s win was their fifth in six league games, and eighth out of nine in all competitions.
Asked if City are hitting their stride towards a title run, Guardiola said: “One game at a time. Now we start a real season with many, many games. People are tired.
“You play teams who are down or playing for Europe. The Premier League is more competitive than ever.
“It is important that we qualify for the Champions League. We take a little gap from the other teams (below them). This step is massively important.”
City are 11 points clear of fourth-placed Manchester United, who play today, and Liverpool in fifth spot.
Haaland missed the Leeds match with what Guardiola called a “little injury” in training this week.
Rayan Cherki started in his place.
Leeds boss Daniel Farke made a beeline for the referee after the final whistle and was quickly shown a red card.
“I had a short chat with him,” assistant manager Edmund Riemer told Sky.
“There were incidents, there was time wasting. They got a yellow card in added time. Six minutes.”
“You are emotional and then he ran on the pitch and he got a red card, I think for what he said. Perhaps it was too aggressive.”
Buoyed by recent draws with Chelsea and Aston Villa, Leeds were on the front foot from the start and Calvert-Lewin missed a gilt-edged chance when he inexplicably fired wide and sent another shot from a tight angle trickling past the far post.
City settled into the game and started dominating possession before Semenyo’s goal.
Leeds kicked off the second half with the same energy as they did the first and Calvert-Lewin latched onto a ball from Anton Stach only for Matheus Nunes to charge in and clear it.
Marc Guehi nearly doubled City’s lead late in the game but his header was clawed out by Welsh goalkeeper Karl Darlow.
Leeds kept pressing and Jaka Bijol headed a corner just wide in the dying minutes as Farke held his head in disbelief.
His team are in 15th place with 31 points from 28 games, six points above the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, Liverpool exploited West Ham United’s weakness at set pieces to secure a 5-2 win at Anfield but the hosts did not have it all their own way as they struggled to shake off the relegation-threatened Londoners.
The win takes the Merseysiders up to fifth, level on 48 points with fourth-placed Manchester United, who play on Sunday.
West Ham stay 18th on 25 points, two points off the safety zone.
Striker Hugo Ekitike gave Liverpool the lead in the fifth minute while captain Virgil van Dijk and midfielder Alexis Mac Allister also netted first-half goals, with all three strikes coming as a result of West Ham’s struggles to defend corners.
Tomas Soucek scored early in the second half to throw the visitors a lifeline and when Cody Gakpo extended the Liverpool lead to 4-1 in the 70th minute Valentin Castellanos pegged the home side back again five minutes later to keep the game alive.
Liverpool substitute Jeremie Frimpong finally killed the game off as a contest by forcing West Ham defender Axel Disasi to concede an own goal in the 82nd minute.
Jordan Pickford pulled off one of the best saves of the season as he deflected Sandro Tonali’s volley to the crossbar in added time as Everton sealed a 3-2 win at Newcastle United.
After substitute Thierno Barry had struck late to put Everton ahead, Pickford leapt to his right as Tonali’s perfectly timed shot, taken from just outside the box, rocketed towards the far post.
The England keeper managed to deflect the ball with his right hand, and it rattled the crossbar on its way out.
Eighth-placed Everton, looking to end a two-match losing streak in the league, led through Jarrad Branthwaite 19 minutes in.
Jacob Ramsey equalised for Newcastle just after the half-hour mark, but Beto struck just two minutes later to restore Everton’s lead.
Newcastle equalised again when Jacob Murphy scored in the 82nd minute, but Barry scored just a minute later to put Everton back ahead, before Pickford’s save four minutes into added time ensured they left St James’ Park with three points.
Burnley fought back from three goals down to level the score but faced heartbreak in added time as a second strike from Mikkel Damsgaard sealed Brentford a 4-3 victory, bringing his team within five points of the top-four teams.
Seventh-placed Brentford seemed to be cruising to victory after taking an early lead through Damsgaard, before Igor Thiago and Kevin Schade scored to put them 3-0 ahead in just 34 minutes.
But an own goal by Michael Kayode just before halftime opened a window for Burnley, and Hannibal Mejbri set up two second-half strikes by Jaidon Anthony and Zian Flemming to make it 3-3.
Flemming found the net again, only for the goal to be overturned by VAR for an offside.
Damsgaard’s winner sealed the visitors’ first win in three league matches, as Ashley Barnes’ late equaliser was also overturned due to handball.
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