Manchester City’s Erling Haaland became the second player to score at least 20 goals in each of his first three Premier League seasons, scoring the winner as the champions won 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday to return to the top four.
Haaland, back after missing Sunday’s 2-0 home defeat by Liverpool because of injury, turned in Jeremy Doku’s low cross in the 12th minute to put Pep Guardiola’s side ahead.
The Norwegian could have added to his tally as City dominated the opening period with home keeper Guglielmo Vicario making good saves from him and Doku while Savinho put a great chance over the crossbar.
City’s profligacy almost proved costly as Tottenham dominated the second half with Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel squandering chances and Son Heung-min denied by Ederson after coming off the bench.
Victory lifted City to fourth on 47 points from 27 games while Tottenham are 13th on 33.
Arsenal draw at Forest in another blow to their slim title hopes
Arsenal’s faint title hopes dimmed even further after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Nottingham Forest despite dominating Wednesday’s encounter at the City Ground between the second and third-placed teams in the Premier League.
Arsenal were already 11 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool, albeit with a game in hand, before the start of the midweek fixtures and their failure to win on Wednesday leaves their quest looking increasingly unlikely.
Forest remain six points behind Arsenal in third place, keeping up their hopes of Champions League football next season, as they advanced to 48 points although they spent much of the game defending their goal.
It was a second successive match without a goal for the Gunners after they lost at home to West Ham United at the weekend, while Forest have won one of their last five league outings.
Maguire earns 10-man Man United vital victory over Ipswich
Harry Maguire’s second-half header earned 10-man Manchester United a 3-2 victory over Ipswich Town on Wednesday, a vital victory that pulled Ruben Amorim’s struggling side clear of the Premier League relegation zone.
Amorim has endured a miserable time since joining the club in November, especially at home, with more Old Trafford pain on the cards after woeful defending let Jaden Philogene in for Ipswich’s early opener.
United responded well, however, and turned the match on its head as an own goal from Ipswich captain Sam Morsy and Matthijs de Ligt’s close-range finish put the hosts in front after 26 minutes.
The game swung again when United defender Patrick Dorgu was sent off two minutes before the break for a late lunge on Omari Hutchinson and the 10 players conceded almost immediately, Philogene again the Ipswich scorer.
With the visitots having all the second half to make their numerical advantage count, it was Maguire who settled the match just after the interval to earn United a win that moved them up to 14th in the standings, 16 points clear of Ipswich in 18th.
O’Brien earns Everton 1-1 draw at Brentford
Right back Jake O’Brien scored his first goal for Everton as the Merseyside club came from behind to draw 1-1 at Brentford on Wednesday and stretch their unbeaten run in the Premier League under returning manager David Moyes to seven games.
Yoane Wissa gave the home side the lead deep into first-half injury time when he reacted quickest to the loose ball after Bryan Mbeumo’s header from a long throw rebounded off the crossbar.
Everton striker Beto missed two excellent one-on-one chances with the game goalless and the visitors got the point they just about deserved when O’Brien headed in at the back post on 77 minutes from Vitaliy Mykolenko’s deep cross.
Brentford are in 11th place in the table with 38 points from 27 games, while Everton are in 15th with 32 points from the same number of matches.
