Manchester City needed an Erling Haaland penalty 12 minutes from time on Saturday to see off Crystal Palace 1-0, as Liverpool’s resurgence proved short-lived after a 1-0 defeat at AFC Bournemouth.
The win took City to within two points of English Premier League leaders Arsenal, who were set to play at Fulham yesterday.
Manager Pep Guardiola’s men dominated for almost the entire 94 minutes at a sodden Selhurst Park, but were headed for another major blow to their title defense until Ilkay Gundogan was chopped down inside the box by Michael Olise.
Photo: AP
Haaland kept his cool to roll home his 34th goal of the season from the spot.
“I enjoy it, this is England, this is what I have watched my whole life,” said Haaland on challenging for his first Premier League title. “I enjoy every single second being in it. It’s good to be in the middle of it.”
Earlier, Liverpool were brought back to earth with a bang after inflicting Manchester United’s record-equaling defeat in a 7-0 win last weekend.
Philip Billing scored the only goal for Bournemouth to lift the Cherries out of the bottom three as Mohamed Salah fired a penalty wide in the second half.
“The game was pretty much the opposite of what we wanted to show and to do today. I think we played for pretty much 95 minutes the game Bournemouth wanted to play,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said.
Fifth-placed Liverpool are now six points adrift of the UEFA Champions League places after Harry Kane ensured that a tough week for Tottenham Hotspur ended on a high by scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest.
The England captain’s future has been a source of speculation after Spurs crashed out of the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in the space of a week.
Antonio Conte’s men had failed to score in their previous three games, but Kane ended that drought by rising highest to head in Pedro Porro’s cross. He then coolly slotted home his first penalty since missing a crucial spot-kick in England’s FIFA World Cup quarter-final exit to France.
Richarlison made amends for criticism of Conte this week by teeing up Son Heung-min to fire in the third goal for Spurs.
Joe Worrall pulled a goal back for Forest, who then also had a stoppage time penalty from Andre Ayew saved by Fraser Forster.
In other games Leicester City lost 3-1 against Chelsea, while Everton moved out of the bottom three and up to 15th thanks to a 1-0 win over Brentford, ending their 12-game unbeaten run in the Premier League.
Leeds United remain second from bottom, but closed to within a point of safety after twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 at home to high-flying Brighton & Hove Albion.
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