Pep Guardiola has warned the Premier League title race is not over and has reminded his Manchester City players what happened last time they beat Arsenal.
City overpowered the leaders 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to put themselves firmly in the driving seat as they chase a fifth league crown in six years.
The treble-chasing champions are now just two points behind the Gunners with two games in hand and can move top with victory at Fulham on Sunday.
Yet Guardiola remembers well how his side were held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Nottingham Forest just days after winning at the Emirates Stadium in February and does not want a repeat.
The City manager said: “People start to say they have the feeling it’s over, but it’s not over. It will be over when it’s over, and it’s not over.
“We have seven games and in every single game we’ll play for special things for our opponents and ourselves. We have to play our game.
“At the Emirates we won, everyone was happy and saying we had caught Arsenal, but we went to Nottingham Forest and we drew. We played a fantastic game but it was a draw.
“Now we’ve won and we go to Fulham, a special stadium with an incredibly organised team. If we do our job we’ll be closer but nothing is for granted.
“I know it is not 20 games left, but seven games are seven games. It is still a lot of games.”
Arsenal’s challenge has faltered during a miserable April, with their midweek loss at City coming after three successive draws.
Guardiola, however, feels City’s advantage is a slender one and expects Mikel Arteta’s side to bounce back.
He said: “I know Mikel perfectly and the players know that they will not give up.
“If we were 10 points in front I’d say it was almost over but the reality today is we’re two points behind. If the championship finished today they are champions.
“Always I say what happened to them in the last games – three draws, one defeat – can happen to us.
“Impossible? No, it can be possible. You can lose games and drop points in one week.
“We have to be aware of that. If we are it will be easier for us not to drop points.”
After seven successive Premier League wins City – who are also bidding to win the Champions League and FA Cup – appear to be timing their charge perfectly.
“We have good momentum,” Guardiola said. “The feeling is good but we have to prove it again.
“If we don’t get a result at Fulham we will be in the same position as before Arsenal. We have to try to avoid that as much as possible.”
Defender Nathan Ake will miss the game at Craven Cottage as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury but his lay-off should not be a long one.
Guardiola said: “He’s much better, he seems good. The symptoms are good. Still he is not training with the team but I think he won’t be (much) longer.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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