City moves top with win over Arsenal

LONDON: Clinical Manchester City knocked Arsenal off its Premier League perch as second-half goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland earned the defending champion a 3-1 victory in a crunch top-of-the-table clash at The Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.

Arsenal had come from a goal down and looked capable of ending a 10-match losing streak against City in the League, but ultimately came up short. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side, top of the standings since August last year, hit back strongly after Kevin de Bruyne’s 24th-minute opener and was deservedly level through Bukayo Saka’s penalty in the 42nd.

But, it struggled to maintain the intensity after the break and hardly helped itself with a succession of errors. City had a penalty overturned by VAR but kept probing and took the lead when Grealish fired in his third League goal of the season in the 72nd minute.

Haaland then netted his 26th League goal of the campaign – in the 82nd minute – to silence the home crowd and put Pep Guardiola’s team on 51 points, the same as Arsenal but with a superior goal difference.

RESULT: Arsenal 1 (B Saka 42(P)) lost to Manchester City 3 (De Bruyne 24, J Grealish 72, E Haaland 82)