MANCHESTER, England — And then it was three.
With six minutes to go at Anfield last Sunday, Arsenal were nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table. But after two late goals against Liverpool and a ruthless dismantling of Fulham on Wednesday, the gap is down to three. It means the pressure is back on Arsenal ahead of their trip to Brentford on Thursday.
If the title race was sparked into life by Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland on Merseyside, City kept their foot on the pedal against Fulham. In the first half, there were three goals in 15 minutes from Antoine Semenyo, Nico O’Reilly and Haaland that set Pep Guardiola’s side on their way to a comfortable 3-0 win.
Any Arsenal fan watching in hope of a slip-up will have turned off the TV by halftime. Mikel Arteta’s team dealt with their first real test of the run-in by beating Leeds United 4-0 at Elland Road a week after losing to Manchester United.
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City, at the very least, are ensuring that Arsenal have to answer the question about whether they have the fortitude to win the league for the first time in more than 20 years. Brentford, with just two home losses all season, is a tough place to go in any circumstances, but especially when the spotlight is on.
It’s a tense moment for Arteta and his players, although Guardiola rejected the chance to crank up the pressure in his post-match news conference.
“We were not nine points before Anfield, we are not three points before Brentford and Arsenal, after that we will see,” said Guardiola.
“I always say the focus is to grow, grow, grow.
“It’s how we can be more consistent over 90 minutes, how we can be better and the players feel that [they are] doing what we want to do.
“‘We can do it’ in terms of mentality and patterns defensively and offensively. We are doing that.”
This version of City — still blending new players and new ideas — will perhaps never have the air of invincibility of the treble winners or the team that earned 100 points. There is, though, a sense that things are slowly starting to come together.
Rúben Dias was fit enough to start against Fulham after missing more than a month with a muscle injury. After complaints from Guardiola that too much of the goalscoring responsibility was falling to Haaland, Semenyo has arrived from Bournemouth and scored five goals in eight games.
Haaland was substituted at halftime — “niggles” said Guardiola afterwards — but not before scoring his first Premier League goal from open play in 2026. Rodri has been able to start six of the last eight games. Nico González, his understudy, is back from injury. John Stones, missing for more than two months, has returned.
Often in December and January, Guardiola’s bench was filled with academy graduates. Against Fulham, he had Tijjani Reijnders, Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki, Abdukodir Khusanov and Rico Lewis in reserve. Jérémy Doku should be back from a calf problem in March and Rayan Aït-Nouri is in his best form since moving from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer.
Of course, none of it will mean anything if Arsenal keep winning. But the closer it gets to the meeting between the top two at the Etihad in late April, with City still in touching distance, the more chance there is for nerves to creep in.
It was well-timed, then, for City to put in what Guardiola described as one of their best games of the season.
“A really good performance, one of the best,” said Guardiola.
“After Anfield, it is important that after these emotional games because the next one is always tricky. I’m really pleased with the performance of the guys and the results.
“We were together, more calm with the ball, we made inside, outside. After physically and emotionally at Anfield, it was tricky, but we talked a lot and I said ‘Guys, we have to do it again,’ and we did it.”
Job done for City and now over to Arsenal. He doesn’t want to get drawn into mind games yet, but Guardiola has won enough titles to know that we’re entering the crucial phase of the season. After the FA Cup tie against Salford City on Saturday, City play three of the bottom six — Leeds, Nottingham Forest and West Ham United — in their next four league games.
Over the same period, Arsenal face Chelsea at home and trips to Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion. Then comes the Carabao Cup final when Guardiola and Arteta will go head-to-head in a Wembley warm-up before the Premier League run-in. The ingredients are there for a frantic finish.
A race that looked all but over at one point on Sunday is now alive and kicking.
VAR review: Why didn’t Foden get sent off for a foul on Bassey?
Andy Davies (@andydaviesref) is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons on the elite list, working across the Premier League and Championship. With extensive experience at the elite level, he has operated within the VAR space in the Premier League and offers a unique insight into the processes, rationale and protocols that are delivered on a Premier League matchday.
Manchester City 3-0 Fulham
Referee: Paul Tierney
VAR: Neil Davies
Time: 65 minutes
Incident: Possible red card by Man City attacker Phil Foden
What happened: Fulham’s Calvin Bassey strode away from Manchester City’s Phil Foden, and the City attacker stood on the Achilles of Bassey with a level of force, not attempting to play the ball. The referee produced a yellow card for the challenge.
VAR decision: The challenge by Bassey was checked and cleared. The VAR agreed that the challenge by Foden was reckless only.
VAR review: This was a quick check by VAR Neil Davies, who was comfortable that the challenge didn’t meet the threshold for a serious foul play challenge. He checked and cleared the tackle very quickly.
Verdict / Insight: An incorrect on-field and VAR review in my opinion, and one that both will be disappointed with on review. Foden, with no opportunity to win the ball, nor did he try to do so, stamped on the Achilles of Bassey in what is clearly a challenge that endangered the safety of his opponent.
The nature of the challenge looked clear in real time, and so both referee Paul Tierney and VAR Davies will be accountable for a clear error. Foden was substituted very soon after, which possibly tells its own story.