Manchester City moved to within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal with a nervy 2-1 victory over Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium, a result powered by Nico O'Reilly's first-half double and preserved by Gianluigi Donnarumma's stoppage-time heroics. On a tense night in Manchester, City twice led through their 20-year-old midfielder, only for Lewis Hall's deflected strike to keep Newcastle in the contest until the final whistle.
Newcastle, who had undertaken a gruelling 5,000-mile round trip to Azerbaijan for a Champions League play-off against Qarabag in midweek, refused to wilt. Eddie Howe's side matched City's intensity for long periods and were inches away from claiming a point when substitute Harvey Barnes was denied by Donnarumma in the dying seconds. City, who extended their remarkable sequence of home league wins over Newcastle to 17, ultimately closed the gap on Arsenal but did little to soothe the nerves swirling around Pep Guardiola's reshaped squad and a title race that is tightening by the week.
Title race tightens as City strike early
This fixture was always going to be framed by the title race. Arsenal's failure to hold a two-goal lead against relegation-bound Wolverhampton Wanderers in midweek handed City an opportunity they could not afford to spurn. With Mikel Arteta's side travelling to Tottenham on Sunday, City's win moved them to 56 points, just two behind the leaders with a goal difference of 31, one fewer than the Gunners. They are now the only team in the division on a winning run longer than a single game, having eaten into a nine-point deficit and set up a potentially gripping final stretch of 11 matches.