Man City keep up pressure, Chelsea, Villa drop points

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

The pressure is on Arsenal after Manchester City cut their lead at the top of the Premier League to two points yesterday.

Second-place City beat Newcastle 2-1 to turn the heat up on the title race.

Victory at the Etihad Stadium piles the pressure on leaders Arsenal ahead of today’s north London derby against Tottenham.

Nico O’Reilly scored both goals for Pep Guardiola’s team and extended their unbeaten run in the league to five.

“The win was the most important thing. Try to close the gap as well as apply as much pressure as possible, but (I’m) also very happy with the two goals,” O’Reilly said. “It’s a lot of games to go, we just need to take each game as it comes.”

City also moved further clear of third-place Aston Villa, who drew 1-1 with Leeds. Chelsea are fourth after a 1-1 draw with Burnley.

City are the team chasing down Arsenal, who have stumbled in recent weeks with only two wins in their last seven.

By contrast, City are finding form at the right time for a title run and ground out victory against Newcastle.

Guardiola and his players appeared to acknowledge how important the result could be as they embraced each other after the final whistle.

Villa drop points

Aston Villa’s title challenge was hit after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to relegation-fighting Leeds yesterday.

It took an 88th-minute equaliser from substitute Tammy Abraham to rescue a point for Villa – but the draw means Unai Emery’s team could be cut further adrift of Arsenal and Manchester City at the top of the standings.

“There are two sides – one is that we lost two points, or that we won one point,” Villa coach Unai Emery said. “We have 51 points. Today, we lost two, or we won one. At this point, hopefully, we can get the next matches, understanding this point better.”

Villa’s draw leaves them seven points behind Arsenal and continued their shaky recent form of just one win in four in the league.

It could have been worse after Aton Stach put Leeds ahead from a free kick in the 31st.

Abraham, a January signing from Besiktas, came on in the 75th and levelled from close range for his first Premier League goal since his move to Villa Park.

Leeds are seven points clear of the relegation zone.

Chelsea hit by late goal

Zian Flemming scored in the 93rd at Stamford Bridge to salvage a draw for second to last place Burnley.

Joao Pedro’s goal in the fourth looked like being enough for the home team, which went down to 10 men when Wesley Fofana was sent off in the 72nd.

“You need to be ruthless in this league because, if you don’t defend set plays, well, then you get punished,” Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior said. “I felt we were very happy – and it’s not the way I want to play – just to maintain possession, I want us to go for more goals.”

The point moved Chelsea up to fourth – above Manchester United on goal difference, having played a game more. But the race for Champions League qualification could be even tighter by the end of the weekend, with Liverpool now having the chance to move level on points with Chelsea, if they beat Nottingham Forest today.

United play Everton on Monday.

Milner sets new Premier League record

James Milner played his 654th game in the Premier League to set a new appearance record for the competition.

The 40-year-old Milner surpassed the previous benchmark set by Gareth Barry, which had stood since 2018. And he doesn’t sound like he’s ready to call it a day yet.

“I’ll keep pushing, let’s see where that takes us,” Milner said after Brighton’s 2-0 win, which delivered a setback to Brentford’s Champions League challenge.

Goals from Diego Gomez and Danny Welbeck put Brighton in control before the break at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Brentford are five points off the Champions League places.

Adams returns from injury

US international Tyler Adams was back on the field for Bournemouth – making his first appearance since tearing his left MCL on December 15.

Adams was in the starting line-up for the 0-0 draw against West Ham, and played for 66 minutes before being replaced by Ryan Christie.

It’s now just one loss in six for West Ham as their battle to avoid the drop continues to gain momentum.

West Ham, in 17th, are two points away from safety, but have played a game more than their closest rival Forest.

Yesterday’s Results

Villa 1-1 Leeds

Brenford 0-2 Brighton

Chelsea 1-1 Burnley

West Ham 0-0 Bournemouth

City 2-1 Newcastle