Phil Foden believes the Premier League title race will go to the wire this season.
The England midfielder scored a hat-trick in Manchester City’s 3-1 win at Brentford on Monday night.
It was a potentially pivotal victory which lifted City above Arsenal into second place, two points behind leaders Liverpool with a game in hand.
“It’s going to be tight one. Liverpool and Arsenal are two top teams doing really well,” said Foden.
“They are going to push us until the end so we have to try and not drop points and try to win all of our games really.”
City fell behind against the run of play when Neal Maupay fired Brentford into the lead.
But Foden finally beat inspired Bees goalkeeper Mark Flekken to haul his side level before the interval.
The 23-year-old headed them in front early in the second half from Kevin De Bruyne’s cross, and then completed a stylish treble to ensure City’s title destiny is firmly in their own hands.
The treble winners also trailed in away matches against Everton and Newcastle recently, but Foden says they are beginning to show their mettle by coming back to win each time.
“Resilience. We keep proving it season after season,” he told the club website.
“We keep surprising everyone by keeping our standards high and it’s down to the manager and this fantastic group of players.
“It’s the togetherness, when things aren’t going right, to bounce back.”
Nerves are starting to jangle at Brentford, who have lost seven of their last eight matches and lie just three points above the relegation zone.
The fixture list does not offer much respite with City – again – Liverpool and Arsenal all on the schedule in the next few weeks.
But boss Thomas Frank is looking no further ahead than Saturday’s trip to Wolves.
“I’m always looking just one game ahead; that’s where our maximum focus is,” he said.
“It’s the same top focus on the next game. Every game we will have a very good chance to win it and that will be the same on Saturday.”
Guardiola: It is a 'dream come true' to be fighting for Premier League title again
Pep Guardiola says it is a "dream come true" to be fighting for the Premier League title once again as his Manchester City side prepare to take on Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Sunday.
City head into this weekend in second, one point behind leaders Arsenal with a game in hand as Liverpool continue to falter. The Gunners play before Guardiola's men on Sunday, travelling to take on fierce rivals Tottenham, and any slip-up could allow City to move top of the table.
City are on the hunt for a sixth Premier League title in seven seasons, and though Guardiola's men have been in the fight at the summit so often in recent times, the chance to win top-flight silverware again has not lost its appeal.
"Of course, all the teams in the [title race] are tired," Guardiola told reporters. "It's normal at the end of the season.
"But at the same time, it's so exciting. Fighting again for the Premier League? It's a dream come true.
"I could not expect it, honestly. I know always you dream to be there."
At the other end of the table, Forest are fighting for their Premier League lives, a battle not aided by dubious officiating decisions in the 2-0 defeat at Everton last weekend.
The controversial loss leaves Forest heading into their tough fixture this weekend just a point above the drop zone with four games to play.
In his pre-match press conference for the City game, Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was still fuming about the refereeing against the Toffees, saying: "I still can’t quite believe how the decisions went against us.
"It has a big impact as it eventually means points, it means frustration and disappointment. It feels like it’s always against us."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Nottingham Forest – Morgan Gibbs-White
Gibbs-White has been involved in four goals in his last three Premier League home games (two goals, two assists). Indeed, since Forest's return to the top-flight last season, Gibbs-White has been involved in 19 goals at the City Ground, at least eight more than any other player (eight goals, 11 assists). City will have to keep a watchful eye on the former Wolves man.
Manchester City – Phil Foden
It had already been Foden's best league scoring season of his career before the City youth product netted his 15th and 16th Premier League goals of the campaign to help his side to a 4-0 victory at Brighton on Thursday. He has been absolutely crucial for City this term, and he could be the man to help unlock the Forest door this weekend for another huge three points in the title race.
MATCH PREDICTION – MAN CITY WIN
City are looking to complete their first league double over Forest since the 1999-00 campaign in the second tier, and their first in the top-flight since 1990-91.
However, Forest have lost just three of their last 16 top-flight home games against City (10 wins, three draws), going down 2-0 in 1985, 3-1 in 1990 and 2-0 in 1993.
They have been strong at home of late, too, unbeaten in their last three at the City Ground despite winning just one of their last nine Premier League outings.
It will have to be an almighty effort to topple City, however, especially considering Forest have kept just one clean sheet in their last 23 Premier League games, with that coming via a 2-0 win over West Ham in February.
City have lost both of their Premier League games in the Midlands so far this season, going down 2-1 at Wolves and 1-0 at Aston Villa. However, they last lost three consecutive such visits to the Midlands between March and December 2008, and with the title on the line, it is hard to see past them as strong favourites to pick up the three points on Sunday.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Forest: 10.8%
Man City: 69.3%
Draw: 19.9%
Arteta wants to prove supercomputer wrong as Arsenal prepare for derby test
Mikel Arteta is looking to prove the Opta supercomputer wrong as Arsenal prepare for perhaps the biggest test of their Premier League title credentials, in Sunday's North London derby at Tottenham.
Arsenal began the weekend one point clear of Manchester City at the top of the table, though Pep Guardiola's men have a game in hand and have been in ominous form lately, winning their last four league matches.
Five wins for City will ensure they retain their crown, and according to the Opta supercomputer, the champions started the weekend with a 71.7% chance of topping the pile, compared to 26.6% for Arsenal and just 1.7% for Liverpool.
Arteta hopes to see Arsenal's figure boosted by a derby win, saying: "I don't know what to say, hopefully we can trick that computer and make it a bit higher!
"Maybe it needs to update the software, we need to help it or give it more tools. Hopefully we can change that!
"We are there. We have to look at ourselves and try to perform in the best possible way to win our matches and I can't wait to see what happens.
"We had a big win in the last London derby against Chelsea and now we have another big one. I'm sure if we're going to win the league, we're going to have to beat Spurs as well."
Tottenham, meanwhile, need points if they are to overhaul Aston Villa in the battle for Champions League qualification, with fifth place now extremely unlikely to be enough.
Ange Postecoglou, though, is more interested in seeing how Spurs measure up to a side they hope to challenge in the future.
"We understand the importance of the game but ultimately, it's still about us measuring ourselves against the teams we want to be challenging on a more consistent basis," Postecoglou said.
"It's a great opportunity to do that on Sunday."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tottenham – Son Heung-min
Son scored twice for Spurs in the reverse fixture against Arsenal in September – a 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium. In all competitions, only five players have scored more goals in the fixture's history than Son's seven.
The only player to score multiple goals in both north London derby matches in a league season was Arsenal's Ted Drake, who did so back in 1934-35.
Arsenal – Martin Odegaard
Odegaard has been involved in six goals in his last six away appearances in the Premier League, scoring three and assisting three.
The Gunners captain was in mesmerising form in Tuesday's 5-0 win over Chelsea, leading all players on the pitch for assists (two), chances created (eight), passes into the final third (34) and duels won (eight). A repeat performance would be huge for the visitors' title hopes.
MATCH PREDICTION – ARSENAL WIN
Tottenham have won just one of their last six Premier League games against Arsenal (one draw, four defeats), with their four losses in this span as many as they had suffered in their previous 16 against the Gunners (six wins, six draws).
They also lost this exact fixture 2-0 last season, meaning the Gunners could win on back-to-back league trips to Tottenham for the first time since enjoying a run of three victories there between 1987 and 1988.
Arteta's men know there is no margin for error with the title race in City's hands.
Even a draw could prove fatal to their hopes – at the end of the 2015-16 season, the North London derby was the most drawn fixture in Premier League history, with 20 of 48 meetings finishing level (42 per cent). Since then, only four matches between these rivals have seen the points shared (27 per cent).
Arsenal have kept six straight clean sheets on their travels in the Premier League, with only two teams ever keeping seven in a row – Chelsea from September to December 2008 and Manchester United from November to February in 2008-09. The Gunners should have enough to grind out a huge win.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Tottenham – 31%
Arsenal – 41.3%
Draw – 27.7%
West Ham 2-2 Liverpool: Antonio header damages Reds' dwindling title chances
Liverpool suffered another blow to their dwindling Premier League title hopes as Michail Antonio's late header snatched a 2-2 draw for West Ham at London Stadium.
Jurgen Klopp's side disappointed in Wednesday's 2-0 defeat against Everton, with Jarrod Bowen's goal and assist inflicting further pain for the Reds on Saturday.
Liverpool responded well to Bowen's first-half opener, edging ahead through Alphonse Areola's own goal after Andy Robertson's 48th-minute leveller, only for Bowen to tee up Antonio's headed equaliser 13 minutes from time.
This draw left Liverpool two points behind leaders Arsenal ahead of the Gunners’ Sunday meeting with Tottenham and one behind Manchester City – who have two games in hand on the Reds – while West Ham remain eighth.
A tepid opening befitted two sides struggling for form as both failed to carve out any gilt-edged opportunities.
Liverpool wanted a 27th-minute penalty for Angelo Ogbonna's tackle on Cody Gakpo and, though an offside call against Luis Diaz silenced those appeals, that passage livened the game up.
Harvey Elliott's curling attempt was held by Areola after Vladimir Coufal went close at the other end, before Diaz blasted a low strike against the West Ham goalkeeper's right-hand post.
Bowen saw a deflected drive parried behind by Alisson but the West Ham forward headed Mohammed Kudus' left-wing delivery into the far corner from the resulting set-piece two minutes before the break.
Ryan Gravenberch flashed a powerful half-volley over immediately after the interval – and West Ham did not heed that warning sign.
Diaz cut inside from the left to find Robertson before a slight deflection off Lucas Paqueta saw Areola caught off-guard as the left-back found the bottom-left corner via the post.
Gravenberch arrowed narrowly wide before one-way traffic finally paid dividends midway through the second half when Gakpo's miscued strike from Trent Alexander-Arnold's corner forced Areola to turn into his own net after a deflection off Tomas Soucek.
Alisson kept his side ahead with a remarkable stretching stop to thwart Emerson's volley, yet the Liverpool goalkeeper was powerless when Antonio headed into the top-right corner from Bowen's right-wing centre.
Elliott almost snatched all three points in the 89th minute but his dipping effort found the top of the crossbar rather than the right-hand corner from long range.
Reds falter once again
Under Klopp, Liverpool have only won more Premier League games against Crystal Palace (13) than West Ham (12).
Yet the visiting Reds faltered once more as what appeared to be a promising season continues to unravel in disappointing fashion for Klopp's final campaign.
Having threatened an unlikely quadruple at the start of March, Liverpool now require a minor miracle – and slip-ups from Man City and Arsenal – to muster a slight shot at the title.
Bowen on target but West Ham struggle at home
Bowen had already found the net in the Premier League and EFL Cup against Liverpool this season and became just the second West Ham player to score in three different games with the Reds in a single campaign – after Geoff Hurst in 1964-65.
His well-taken headed opener eased the nervous home crowd, yet this draw left West Ham with just one win from their last nine Premier League home games.
That concerning home form may be what costs David Moyes’ side a higher finish. The Hammers trail seventh-placed Newcastle United by a point, despite the Magpies playing two games fewer.
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