New favourites? Man City beat Arsenal 2-1 for huge swing in EPL title race

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

The English Premier League might just have new title favourites.

Manchester City swung the race for the championship in their favour by beating Arsenal 2-1 yesterday thanks to a second-half winner by Erling Haaland.

Haaland's league-leading 23rd goal of the campaign in the 65th minute allowed City to trim the gap to Arsenal, the long-time front-runners, to three points. City have a game in hand at relegation-threatened Burnley on Wednesday, after which Pep Guardiola's team is likely to have overturned its goal-difference deficit to Arsenal and taken the lead with five rounds remaining.

"Panic on the streets of London" read a banner held aloft behind one of the goals after the final whistle -- a reference to a 1980s song by The Smiths and a nod to Arsenal's end-of-season implosion that has seen Mikel Arteta's team lose four of their last six games in all competitions, including two straight in the league.

This might be a familiar sinking feeling for Arsenal fans, who have seen their team finish as runners-up for the past three Premier League seasons.

"Two weeks ago, this didn't look very likely, this scenario," City captain Bernardo Silva said.

An often-frenetic match exploded into life when Rayan Cherki gave City a 16th-minute lead with a weaving run and finish, only for Arsenal to draw level in bizarre circumstances two minutes later after Gianluigi Donnarumma's clearance was charged down by Kai Havertz and rebounded into the net from close range.

Haaland and Arsenal pair Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhaes struck the goal frame, before Haaland slotted home a low shot from Nico O'Reilly's cross, dealing a huge blow to Arsenal's hopes of a first league championship since 2004.

City are expected to beat next-to-last Burnley, but have a tougher run-in than Arsenal that includes trips to Everton and Bournemouth and a final-day meeting with Aston Villa.

"Every game is a final," Haaland said.

Unlike City, who are unbeaten in 10 league games, Arsenal are struggling for form and also have to balance playing in the Champions League after reaching the semi-finals.

"It's a new league now -- everything is still to play for," Arteta said.

STOPPAGE-TIME WINNERS

Liverpool and Aston Villa look to be headed for the Champions League after grabbing stoppage-time winners on Sunday.

Virgil van Dijk headed home in the 10th minute of added-on time to earn Liverpool a 2-1 victory at Everton in a Merseyside derby featuring a record-tying goal from Mohamed Salah.

Salah, who is leaving Liverpool at the end of the season after nine trophy-filled seasons, marked his final derby by slotting in a low finish in the 29th minute. His ninth Merseyside derby goal drew him even with Liverpool great Steven Gerrard for the most in the Premier League era (since 1992).

It was Liverpool's other stalwart, Van Dijk, who sealed the win by turning in a corner by Dominik Szoboszlai.

There was so much stoppage time because Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili was forced off on a stretcher after sustaining an injury attempting in vain to save a 54th-minute shot by Beto that brought Everton level.

Villa, meanwhile, beat Sunderland 4-3 thanks to Tammy Abraham's goal in the third minute of stoppage time.

Fourth-place Villa moved 10 points ahead of sixth-place Chelsea. Liverpool is in between them, but stretched its advantage over Chelsea to seven points.

The top five in the Premier League will qualify for the Champions League.

GIBBS-WHITE HAT-TRICK

Morgan Gibbs-White scored a second-half hat-trick as Nottingham Forest rallied to beat Burnley 4-1 and further boost their survival hopes.

Forest moved five points clear of third-to-last Tottenham in the relegation zone, while next-to-last Burnley slipped closer to the drop to the Championship.