Review

Man City set up huge title head-to-head with Arsenal

12 Feb 2023

Defending champions defeat Aston Villa and can go above Gunners if they beat them on Wednesday

Manchester City set up a massive match with Arsenal in the race for the title by beating Aston Villa 3-1 to move three points behind the leaders ahead of their meeting on Wednesday.

MCI

3-1

AVL

Arsenal opened the door for Man City on Saturday by failing to beat Brentford, and City took full advantage as they blew away Villa with three first-half goals.

Rodri headed in Riyad Mahrez's fourth-minute corner before Erling Haaland crossed for Ilkay Gundogan to tap in at the back post. It was reminiscent of the German's goal in the 3-2 turnaround win in the same fixture last season that won City the title.

Mahrez converted a penalty won by Jack Grealish, and although Ollie Watkins pulled one back on the hour, Pep Guardiola's side held on to win.

ARS

1-3

MCI

It means Man City head to Emirates Stadium knowing a win would take them above Arsenal on goal difference, knocking the Gunners off top spot for the first time since August.

City will now hope Haaland will be OK to play in midweek after their top scorer was taken off at half-time against Villa. Guardiola says he will know more about the Norwegian's condition on Monday.

Position Pos	Club	Played Pl	GD	Points Pts
1	Manchester City MCI	38	+61	89
2	Arsenal ARS	38	+45	84
3	Manchester United MUN	38	+15	75
4	Newcastle United NEW	38	+35	71

Full table

Man Utd keep pace

Marcus Rashford continued his stunning form as Manchester United showed their own title credentials with a 2-0 win at Leeds United.

The two teams faced off just four days after their last meeting, a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, but Leeds could find no way past David De Gea this time.

On his 400th Premier League appearance, De Gea made a brilliant save just two minutes before Rashford headed in Luke Shaw's 80th-minute cross to score for a fourth consecutive match. It took his tally to eight goals in nine appearances since the Premier League resumed.

Substitute Alejandro Garnacho sealed the win five minutes later to move Man Utd just five points behind leaders Arsenal.

A ninth match without a win for Leeds leaves them in 17th place, one point above Everton, who have a match in hand to play on Monday.

Leeds will also be looking over their shoulders at bottom-club Southampton, who are four points beneath them and dismissed their manager Nathan Jones earlier in the day, as they too look for a new-manager bounce.