LONDON, April 12 : Manchester City dismantled Chelsea with a 3-0 victory at Stamford Bridge sending out an ominous statement to Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday while at the other end of the table Tottenham Hotspur’s relegation fears deepened.
Arsenal’s shock 2-1 defeat at home by Bournemouth on Saturday opened the door ajar for chasing City and they took full advantage with second-half goals by Nico O’Reilly, Marc Guehi and Jeremy Doku sealing the points.
City cut Arsenal’s lead to six points and with a game in hand and next Sunday’s home clash against Mikel Arteta’s long-time leaders to come, the title race is boiling up again.
Roberto de Zerbi’s first game in charge of struggling Tottenham failed to halt the club’s downward spiral as a 1-0 loss away to Sunderland left the London club mired in the relegation zone with six games left to play.
Nordi Mukiele’s wickedly deflected shot just past the hour mark sealed Tottenham’s fate as their winless league run stretched to 14 games – their worst sequence since 1935.
Nottingham Forest earned an important point in their battle to stay out of the drop zone as they drew 1-1 at home to fourth-placed Aston Villa. Crystal Palace came from a goal down to beat Newcastle United 2-1 with Jean-Philippe Mateta’s late double, including a stoppage-time penalty, sealing victory.
The last time Manchester City were in Premier League action, almost a month ago, an away draw at West Ham United appeared to have given Arsenal full control of the title race.
But an impressive League Cup final win over Arsenal, followed by a rout of Liverpool in the FA Cup has rejuvenated Pep Guardiola’s side and Arsenal’s slip on Saturday offered them a way back into the title race.
It took City a while to assert their superiority at Chelsea, but the way they carved up the hosts after the break would have sent some shivers down Arsenal’s spines ahead of next Sunday’s seismic clash at The Etihad Stadium.
“I would like to say to my fans – respect Arsenal a lot, they are an extraordinary team,” Guardiola said of next week’s potential title decider. “Come to join us from minute one because the players will do the maximum.”
City roused themselves from a first-half slumber to score three times in 17 minutes with O’Reilly starting the rout, shrugging off Andrey Santos to head home from a Rayan Cherki cross in the 51st minute.
Cherki was on hand six minutes later to cross for former Chelsea defender Guehi to finish in the bottom corner and Doku made it 3-0 after robbing Moises Caicedo of the ball.
CHELSEA FADING
While City moved to 64 points from 31 games to Arsenal’s 70 from 32, Chelsea’s hopes of finishing in the top five and qualifying for the Champions League are fading.
A fourth defeat in five league games for Liam Rosenior’s side left them in sixth place, four points behind Liverpool.
Tottenham have not won a league game since Dec. 28 and are careering towards a first relegation from the top flight of English football since 1977.
They showed some fight at Sunderland, but there was little quality as De Zerbi was left in no doubt as to the challenge he faces to prevent an unthinkable drop into the Championship.
Tottenham have 30 points, two fewer than West Ham United in 17th place, but their form is horrendous with one point from the last 24 available.
“Because we are Tottenham, we have not (got the right) to win the game just because we are Tottenham,” the Italian, who replaced interim manager Igor Tudor, said. “You can’t win the game with the paper. You have to win the game showing the quality on the pitch, the fighting on the pitch.”
Forest moved three points above Tottenham as they shrugged off going behind to a Murillo own goal at the City Ground to peg back Villa thanks to a Neco Williams equaliser.
Villa moved level on 55 points with third-placed Manchester United who are in action at home to Leeds United on Monday.
Palace leapfrogged Newcastle into 13th place as Mateta came off the bench to inspire a turnaround.
Newcastle led through William Osula’s hooked finish shortly before halftime but Mateta headed an 80th-minute equaliser and then converted a stoppage-time penalty after Sven Botman’s pull on Jefferson Lerma.
Newcastle have now lost 25 points from winning positions this season and their season is fizzling out.
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