Antoine Semenyo fired Manchester City to a gritty 1-0 win over Leeds on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) as the Premier League title chasers closed the gap on leaders Arsenal without Erling Haaland.
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Semenyo netted late in the first half at Elland Road with his sixth goal since signing from Bournemouth in January.
The Ghana forward’s strike lifted second-placed City to within two points of Arsenal, who host London rivals Chelsea on Sunday (Monday AEDT).
City’s fourth successive league win was achieved in the absence of Haaland after the prolific striker was ruled out with an injury suffered in training on Thursday.
“A little injury. It’s not a big issue but not ready for today,” City boss Pep Guardiola said just before kick-off.
City hope Haaland will recover in time for Wednesday’s clash with Nottingham Forest.
Remarkably, City have a better win ratio in the top-flight without the Norway star than when he plays.
Although they were not at their best, City’s hard-fought success in a hostile environment kept the destiny of the title in their own hands.
Chasing the seventh title of Guardiola’s reign, City will be guaranteed the crown if they win their last 10 games regardless of Arsenal’s results across the same number of matches.
City will have a game in hand on Arsenal after this weekend and host the Gunners in April.
LIVERPOOL ROUT HAMMERS
Liverpool climbed into the Premier League’s top five with a 5-2 win over struggling West Ham on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
Three first-half goals, all from set-pieces, by Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister put Arne Slot’s men on course for a fourth consecutive victory in all competitions.
Liverpool have gone from the worst Premier League performers in terms of set-pieces at the end of 2025 to the best since January 1.
“In my opinion we have played better when we lost,” said Slot. “We start scoring from set-pieces and things start looking brighter and better than when you don’t.”
Dutch duo Cody Gakpo and Jeremie Frimpong added more goals after the break, but despite the scoreline, it was another far from convincing performance from the English champions.
Defeat deals another blow to the Hammers’ hopes of survival as they remain two points adrift of safety.
But they hit back twice in the second half through Tomas Soucek and Valentin Castellanos and could have scored more at Anfield.
A place in the top five is almost certain to secure Champions League football next season thanks to the strong results of English sides in European competition this season.
Liverpool move three points clear of sixth-placed Chelsea, who face the daunting task of a trip to Arsenal on Sunday.
Burnley’s slim chances of survival took another body blow in an agonising 4-3 defeat at home to Brentford.
The Bees were cruising to victory and within two points of Chelsea when goals from Mikkel Damsgaard, Igor Thiago and Kevin Schade put them 3-0 up inside 34 minutes at Turf Moor.
Michael Kayode’s own goal gave the Clarets hope before half-time and they levelled through Jaidon Anthony and Zian Flemming.
Flemming thought he had completed a remarkable comeback only for a VAR review to rule the goal out for offside.
Instead, it was Brentford who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when Damsgaard netted his second goal in stoppage time.
There was still time for another VAR review to deny Burnley a point when Ashley Barnes was adjudged to have handled before scoring a 98th-minute equaliser.
Everton notched another excellent away win to maintain their hope of European football next season with a 3-2 victory at Newcastle.
Three times the Toffees led at St James’ Park through Jarrod Branthwaite, Beto and Thierno Barry.
Newcastle slip to 12th, with the success of their season now relying on heroics in the Champions League against Barcelona and City in the FA Cup fifth round next weekend.
Everton have struggled to adapt to their new home at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, but only Arsenal have won more points on the road as David Moyes’ climb into eighth.
Bournemouth stretched their unbeaten league run to eight games after coming from behind to rescue a 1-1 draw at home to Sunderland in the lunchtime kick-off.
Evanilson cancelled out Eliezer Mayenda’s opener for the Black Cats.