Manchester City stressed the pressure on leaders Arsenal by outright defeating Leicester City 3-1 on Saturday in the 31st stage of the English Football League , while the loss of Newcastle III and Tottenham V opened the door for Manchester United to enhance its chances of participating in the Champions League next season. The account of one of them, with the first outright fall in front of its host Aston Zero-3 and the second at home against Bournemouth, who is struggling to survive 2-3.

City raised its tally to 70 points, compared to 73 for Arsenal, who are visiting neighbors West Ham on Sunday.

On the other hand, Newcastle's balance was frozen at 56 points in third place, which could be relinquished in the event of a draw or victory for Manchester United against its host Nottingham Forest on Sunday. As for Tottenham, it remained fifth with 53 points, but it played two matches more than Newcastle and Manchester United, noting that it will face Newcastle in the next stage.

In light of the struggle between City and Arsenal for the league title, other teams are competing for the last two qualified seats to the main continental competition.

At the Etihad Stadium, the appointment of a new coach for Leicester, Dean Smith, did not achieve any moral boost, because City is at a ruthless level at the present time, especially after the remarkable victory over Bayern Munich with three clean goals in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
Four minutes after the start of the match, defender John Stones opened the scoring for City with a "on the fly" shot that hit the top corner of the net.

Then the referee awarded a penalty kick to City after a handball inside the area, which was successfully directed by the giant Norwegian striker, Erling Haaland (13).

And soon Haaland added the third when he received a front ball from Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, and he walked with it a few meters before hitting it into the net (25).

Haaland, with his 32nd goal, equaled the record for the number of goals scored in one season, which includes 38 games, to share it with Egyptian Mohamed Salah, Liverpool striker, in the 2017-2018 season. As for the absolute record in the Premier League, it is 34 goals scored by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer, but when the league included 42 matches.

Haaland also raised his tally this season to 47 goals in various competitions.

The City coach decided to rest Haaland between halftime for the return match against Bayern, scheduled for next Wednesday, and hired Argentine striker Julian Alvarez.
In general, the guests remained in control in the second half, at a time when Guardiola brought out his best players in succession, before Leicester scored an honorary goal by Nigerian Kelechi Iheanacho, former City striker (75).

Guardiola said, "At the end of the match, things were not easy for us, and the reason for that was the many changes we made."

He added, "After we advanced 3-0, I decided to rest Haaland, because he played the full 90 minutes against Bayern, and it was very difficult."
And at Villa Park, Aston Villa put an end to a series of five consecutive victories for Newcastle when it dropped its guest 3-0.
Spanish Villa coach Unai Emery commented on the result of his team and the possibility of snatching a ticket to the Champions League, noting that it is 6 points behind the last qualifiers to the main continental competition, saying, "We are candidates for a complex in the European League, but occupying one of the first four places is very difficult."

Newcastle has not competed in the Champions League since the 2002-2003 season and aspires to return to the competition after the Saudi takeover in October 2021 and the arrival of coach Eddie Howe at the end of the same year.

This is only the second time this season in the league that Newcastle - the best defense in the league - has conceded three goals after a 3-3 draw with Manchester City last August.
For his part, Villa, led by Emery, achieved its fifth successive victory in the league for the first time since 1998.

Villa succeeded in advancing early after a cross hit Ollie Watkins on the right side towards the second post, he passed it header to Jacob Ramsey, followed by his left from close range (11).

Watkins continued his brilliance, and after he had a goal ruled out for offside after returning to the video assistant referee “VAR” (62), he added the second goal for his team after a ball from Spaniard Alex Moreno reached him in front of the goal, he turned around himself and entered the net (64).
He scored his second personal goal, and his 14th in the league this season, after a wonderful collective game from Villa, after which the ball reached Ramsey inside the area, followed by a back pass to Watkins, who hit it to the left of Bob (83).

In north London, Bournemouth achieved a heavy-caliber surprise by dropping Tottenham at home 3-2, to make it difficult for him to participate in the Champions League.

Spurs advanced through South Korean striker Heung-min Son, following a pass from Croatian Ivan Pericic (14).
But Uruguayan Matias Fina equalized for the South Coast team in the 38th minute.
Bournemouth returned to the lead through striker Dominic Solanke (51).

Tottenham waited until the 88th minute for Dutch winger Arnaud Danjuma to equalize with a creeping shot.

Amid the offensive tide of Tottenham to get the three match points, Bournemouth managed to take advantage of a quick counterattack, with Burkina Faso's Dango Ouattara scoring the winning goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Chelsea continued its bad performances despite the appointment of a new coach, Frank Lampard, who lost his first three matches with his former team, and the last was Saturday at home to Brighton 1-2.

Lampard had lost his first match against Wolverhampton 0-1 in the league, then Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals 0-2.

Lampard made several changes to his squad, but things did not improve despite his team's lead by Connor Gallagher (13), but Brighton responded with two through Danny Welbeck (42) and Paraguayan Jose Cesar Enciso (69).