Down to the wire

Manchester City kept the heat on English Premier League leaders Arsenal, seeing off a challenge from Nottingham Forest after Mikel Arteta's men beat Tottenham.

A three-way title race has become a duel between Pep Guardiola's City and Mikel Arteta's Gunners, determined to amend for last season's late collapse.

Liverpool were in the box seat in the title race just weeks ago but have won just one of their past five matches and Jurgen Klopp will almost certainly have to content himself with just the League Cup in his final season at Anfield.

Arsenal are on 80 points with just three matches to go, one point clear of City, but the champions have a game in hand and remain favorites.

The Gunners raced into a 3-0 lead against Spurs in the early kick-off on Sunday, surviving a late fright to win 3-2 and move four points clear at the top.

City battled past Forest, with goals from Josko Gvardiol and Erling Haaland. Gvardiol opened the scoring after the half-hour mark, and Haaland slotted home in the 71st minute to make it 2-0 - both were assisted by Kevin De Bruyne.

Guardiola was relieved his team had come out on top but warned against complacency.

"We prefer they [Arsenal] lose," said the City boss, whose team are now unbeaten in 31 matches in all competitions.

"Four games left, I don't think we can lose any points and we know exactly what we have to do."

Arsenal know if City win their remaining games, they cannot be caught. but they show no signs of wilting under intense pressure.

Arteta's men silenced the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with three goals before half-time.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's own goal put Arsenal ahead before Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz netted. Cristian Romero and Son Heung Min struck for Tottenham after the interval, but the visitors hang on.

Arteta believes his team are better equipped to win the title than last season.

The Spaniard revealed he was hoping for divine intervention in the closing stages against Spurs. "I was praying," he said. "There were so many Spurs players in the box. We had to dig in."