Manchester City cut Arsenal’s lead in the Premier League title race to two points with a 3-0 win over European hopefuls Brentford.
City laboured for long periods and, five days on from a damaging 3-3 draw at Everton that turned the title race in Arsenal’s favour, it looked as if they might suffer another setback at the hands of Keith Andrews’ side.
But Jeremy Doku and Erling Haaland, the players who rescued a point at Everton, ensured that would not be the case.
Doku produced a near-carbon copy of his equaliser on Merseyside to break the deadlock on the hour mark, and 15 minutes later Haaland bundled home from close range to make the points safe.
Haaland was the provider as Omar Marmoush added late gloss to the scoreline with an injury-time strike that could prove critical if the title race comes down to goal difference. City (+40) are now just a goal behind Arsenal on goal difference.
Arsenal can re-establish a five-point buffer, albeit with City having a game in hand, when they visit relegation-threatened West Ham on Sunday.
Brentford drop to eighth place, which could still be enough for a maiden European campaign. However, now four points behind sixth-placed Bournemouth, their hopes of potential Champions League qualification look to be over.
Manchester City avoid another title race setback
Doku always looked the most likely player to open the scoring for City and he forced Caoimhin Kelleher into action as early as the third minute.
Brentford then forced City to clear off the line as the visitors struggled to deal with a long throw that was flapped at by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Still, City predictably created the better openings, with Haaland heading a presentable chance high and wide following a Doku pull back, before then being denied by Kelleher.
City were given a scare early in the second half when Donnarumma was called into action to keep out a near-post effort from Brentford talisman Igor Thiago, but the evident tension at the Etihad Stadium was eased as Doku scored his third goal this week.
The Belgian cut in from the left following a short corner and, after losing the ball, was fortunate to see it bounce off Mikel Damsgaard and back into his path, with the winger making the most of his good luck by curling magnificently into the top-right corner.
Kelleher prevented Phil Foden from making it 2-0 soon after, and Doku went close to doubling his tally with a low effort that bent narrowly wide of the left-hand post.
But the game was essentially ended as a contest as Antoine Semenyo drove to the byline and cut back for Haaland, who found a way to back heel the ball over the line after seeing his initial effort blocked.
Kelleher displayed impressive reflexes once more as he produced a brilliant reaction save to thwart Foden once more, but there was nothing the Irishman could do to stop Marmoush from firing across him after a clever pass from Haaland.
Dango Ouattara forced Donnarumma to tip over with a close-range header as Brentford went close to doing Arsenal a favour in the goal difference race, but their failure to really lay a glove on a City side far from their best means the onus is now back on the Gunners to avoid a slip-up in East London.
