Winning City nearly clinched national title after Arsenal defeat against Brighton

Manchester City is close to clinching its ninth national title. Coach Pep Guardiola’s team won 3-0 at Everton and a few hours later saw Arsenal lose 3-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.

The Premier League leaders, who still have three league matches ahead of them, have four more points than Arsenal, which has only two games to play.

The game between Arsenal and Brighton got off to a difficult start. The visitors had more ball possession, but Arsenal had the best chances before halftime.

Belgian substitute Leandro Trossard, who had replaced the injured Gabriel Martinelli (ankle), hit the crossbar and English international Bukayo Saka shot wide.

Shortly after halftime, Julio Cesar Enciso made the 0-1 unopposed for Brighton. The Premier League sub-topper then easily stayed upright in London, running out further in the closing stages through Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinan.

Like last week against Leeds United, German midfielder İlkay Gündogan was the standout for City, which was still missing Dutch international Nathan Aké due to a hamstring injury. After two goals against Leeds, Gündoğan was good for two goals and an assist against Everton.

City bit down on the defense of the Liverpool club for 35 minutes. Then it went hard. Gündogan scored artistically – with his back to goal he tapped in backwards – and two minutes later served Premier League top scorer Erling Haaland for the 2-0 (his 36th league goal of the season).

Gündogan hit the target just after halftime from a free kick by curling the ball sensitively over the wall into the goal.

Thanks to the win, City can now look with confidence toward next Wednesday’s return to the Champions League semifinals against Real Madrid. The first match in the Spanish capital ended 1-1 last Tuesday.

City reached the final of the Champions League for the first time in 2021, in which Chelsea were too strong.