Review

De Bruyne and Haaland put Man City in control in title race

26 Apr 2023

Duo star in impressive 4-1 win over Arsenal, leaving Gunners hoping for a slip-up from Pep Guardiola's side

Manchester City have their fate in their own hands in the title race, while Arsenal must now hope their rivals slip up, after the champions' dominant 4-1 win over the leaders on Wednesday.

A Kevin De Bruyne double, along with goals by John Stones and Erling Haaland, took Man City within two points of Arsenal, with two matches in hand and a superior goal difference.

Position Pos	Club	Played Pl	GD	Points Pts
1	Man City MCI	38	+61	89
2	Arsenal ARS	38	+45	84

Having opened the scoring with a first-half goal in February’s reverse fixture, De Bruyne repeated the feat on seven minutes, collecting a pass from Haaland before driving forward and sweeping the ball low past Aaron Ramsdale.

MCI

4-1

ARS

TV Info - Broadcasters

That was Haaland's first assist for De Bruyne this season.

The Belgian was denied a second by a superb Ben White block, while Haaland went close on four occasions before Stones made it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time.

Although Stones' header from De Bruyne's free-kick was initially disallowed for offside, it was overturned following a VAR review.

See: What happened in Wednesday's other matches

De Bruyne made it 3-0 on 54 minutes, slotting past Ramsdale from Haaland's pass for his eighth goal against the Gunners in the Premier League, three more than he has managed versus any other side.

Rob Holding pulled a goal back with four minutes remaining, curling beyond Ederson, but Halaand tucked in a fourth for City in stoppage time.

With his 33rd Premier League strike of the season, the Norwegian set a record for goals in a 38-match season, moving ahead of Mohamed Salah's total of 32 from 2017/18.