Erling Haaland equalled a Manchester City record when he completed the scoring for Manchester City enroute a vital victory at Emirates Stadium over Arsenal.
The Norwegian scored his 26th Premier League goal of the season, the joint-most by a Man City player in a single campaign in the competition, matching Sergio Aguero‘s tally from 2014/15.
The Cityzens returned to the top of the Premier League for the first time since November as the champions inflicted Arsenal’s first home defeat of the season and leapfrogged their title rivals into top spot.
The reigning champions turned on the power in the second half in the biggest game of the domestic season as Arsenal paid a heavy price for individual errors.
Takehiro Tomiyasu’s poor backpass allowed Kevin de Bruyne to loft a finish over Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale after 24 minutes but Bukayo Saka levelled from the spot following Ederson’s foul on Eddie Nketiah, before goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland earned City three crucial points.
After beating Manchester United on 22 January, Arsenal were five points clear with a game in hand, but have taken just one point from a possible nine since.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says he now has more belief that his side can win the title despite the defeat.
Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard echoed that his side needed to be more clinical with only one of their 10 attempted shots on target.
The reaction of the Arsenal players and fans at full-time was one of disappointment and they have now failed to win their past three league games as they bid for their first title in almost 20 years.
Arsenal could return to the top of the league with victory at Aston Villa on Saturday’s early kickoff fixture, with Man City facing Nottingham Forest away later in the day, and the two teams meet again at Etihad Stadium in April.