Manchester City once again outperformed its guest, Arsenal, and achieved its third victory over it this season, by sweeping it 4-1 on Wednesday in the 33rd stage, to seriously threaten the “Gunners” dream of a first title in the English Football League since 2004.

And after he returned victorious from the “Emirates Stadium” 1-0 in the fourth round of the cup, City beat Arsenal 3-1 at the latter’s stadium also on February 15 in the postponed match from stage 21, before hitting him again on Wednesday with four, including a double for the Belgian. Kevin De Bruyne and a record goal for the Norwegian Erling Haaland.

The two teams entered the match with the difference between them five points, after it was 11, as a result of Arsenal’s sufficiency in a draw in the past three stages, while City was coming from six consecutive victories in the league and with the spirit of qualifying for the Champions League semi-finals and the FA Cup final as well.

The two teams came out of the match, with Arsenal in the lead, just two points ahead of the team of Spanish coach Pep Guardiola, who also played two matches less than the team of his compatriot and former assistant Mikel Arteta, which makes the “Citizens” strong candidates to retain the title and end the London team’s dream of winning the first since 2004.

But De Bruyne saw that the season "is still long. We know what people said about the winner of this match (his chances of winning the title), but it is very difficult. Many things may happen. We have two matches postponed, but we are still behind them."

As usual, the preference was given to City in this confrontation, similar to the last seven confrontations between the two teams in all competitions, with Arsenal continuing to face its rivals at the league level, as it has not emerged victorious since the end of 2015 (2-1).

City scored less than 7 minutes after the start, thanks to De Bruyne, who received the ball from Haaland, and the Belgian hit it from outside the area into the left corner of Aaron Ramsdale's goal (7).

City continued his advantage and was close to the second goal on more than one occasion, whether it was through De Bruyne or Haaland, who tested Ramsdale from a difficult angle, but the latter shone (32), then responded to a distant attempt by Ghanaian Thomas Partey (35) with a similar one that passed next to the right post ( 36).

The Norwegian was close again to the net in the 41st minute, after a pass from the Portuguese Bernardo Silva, but Ramsdale shone again.
Arsenal thought it had escaped the second goal at the end of the first half after the referee raised the offside flag to cancel John Stones’ header following a free kick carried out by De Bruyne, but the video assistant referee “VAR” confirmed the validity of the goal, so City entered the half-time break ahead with two clean goals (1 + 45). ).

Arsenal's performance improved at the start of the second half, but the most dangerous opportunity was for Halland, who collided again with Ramsdale's brilliance, before turning seconds later into a playmaker by passing the ball to Bruyne's second personal goal and the third to City (54).

In light of the three-goal difference, the pace calmed down in City’s desire to save efforts, which opened the way for Arsenal to reduce the difference late through Rob Holding, after he received the ball from Belgian Lenado Trossard after a corner kick (86).

Haaland refused to end the meeting without leaving his mark with a goal he scored in the last seconds, according to which he alone set the record for the number of goals in a season of 38 games (33, with a goal difference in front of Liverpool’s Egyptian top scorer, Mohamed Salah, a goal away from the absolute record for a season of 42 matches).

Chelsea suffered a fifth defeat out of five matches he has played so far, led by his new-old coach Frank Lampard, and it came at home to Brentford, 0-2.

Lampard began his mission as a temporary coach for the team that starred in its ranks as a player between 2001 and 2014 and supervised it from the summer of 2019 until early 2021 in 2018, by losing its first four matches, two of which were in the league and the same in the Champions League quarter-finals against Real Madrid.

Then the successor of dismissed coach Graham Potter suffered a fifth consecutive defeat on Wednesday, after Chelsea finished the first half, lagging behind with friendly fire through Spaniard Cesar Aspilicueta, who accidentally turned the ball into his own net after a corner kick (37).

Then Brentford won its second successive victory at Stamford Bridge, where it won last season 4-1, by adding the second goal in the 78th minute through Cameroonian substitute Brian Mbomou after a counterattack.

Chelsea's balance froze at 39 points in eleventh place, while Brentford temporarily advanced to ninth place with 47 points.
Liverpool continued its quest to obtain a qualifying position for the Champions League by achieving its third successive victory, and it came at the expense of its host, West Ham, 2-1.

West Ham was the first to score through Brazilian Lucas Paqueta with a wonderful long shot (12), but Liverpool responded quickly through Dutchman Cody Khakpo, who equalized with a long shot as well (18).

Cameroonian Joel Matip gave Liverpool a header after a corner kick (67).

German coach Jürgen Klopp's team raised its tally to 53 points, in sixth place, on goal difference, against Tottenham Hotspur, who hosts Manchester United on Thursday.

And it was a coincidence that Liverpool would face Tottenham on the ground of the first in the next stage in a fateful match for the Champions League struggle, in light of their distance from the fourth United by 6 points.

Nottingham Forest achieved a very important victory for the struggle for survival, thanks to which it rose from the penultimate position to the seventeenth by 30 points, and came at the expense of its guest, Brighton, 3-1.