City leave Gunners without ammo for title charge

Manchester, April 27

The Premier League title is now Manchester

City’s to lose after a 4-1 rout of Arsenal.

Pep Guardiola’s team looked like champions-in-waiting with a ruthless win over the team that

has led the way for much of the season.

Arsenal are still out in front in the standings, but by the time Erling Haaland completed the scoring in stoppage time, the Londoners’ title challenge looked effectively over.

Haaland struck his 49th goal of the season on Wednesday, while Kevin de Bruyne was at his inspirational best, scoring twice.

City remain two points behind the league leaders but with two games in hand they appear to be on course to be crowned champions for the third year in a row.

“It is in our hands,” Guardiola said. “Until today, I preferred Arsenal’s position because if Arsenal beat us it is in their hands. Now it’s our destiny.”

After 17 games without defeat, it is hard to see City slipping up from here.

Arsenal, meanwhile, may struggle to recover from such a chastening loss, which came on the back of three straight draws that had taken the momentum out of their title charge.

Mikel Arteta’s team has exceeded all expectations by taking the challenge this far, but the pressure appears to have taken its toll in recent weeks.

Two-goal leads were thrown away against Liverpool and West Ham, while it took a late comeback to salvage a point against last-placed Southampton last week. That damaging sequence meant Arsenal needed to win against City to stay in control of the title race.

“Kevin is a master of the assist with or without Erling,” Guardiola said. “Erling scores goals all the time with or without Kevin. But being together, when teams press so high and those balls with space behind, they are so dangerous and we use it.”

Meanwhile, Frank Lampard’s return to Chelsea is turning into a nightmare. It’s now five losses from five games since he was appointed interim manager this month, with Brentford winning 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are up to sixth after a 2-1 comeback win over West Ham at the London Stadium. — AP