Manchester City’s resurgence in the Premier League gained momentum as they defeated Chelsea 3-1, propelling Pep Guardiola’s squad to fourth place in the league table on Saturday.
The team, which has won the title four times in a row, now sits 12 points behind league leaders Liverpool, but they have extended their unbeaten streak in the league to six matches following a challenging spell of losses at the end of last year.
City faced an early setback at the Etihad Stadium when debutant Abdukodir Khusanov made a mistake that allowed Chelsea to take the lead within three minutes.
“Three points. We urgently needed this,” Guardiola commented after his side rallied back with goals from Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland, and Phil Foden. “They responded incredibly well emotionally.”
Liverpool continued their strong title chase by overpowering Ipswich 4-1, maintaining a six-point advantage at the top.
Arsenal held second place after securing a narrow 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton, while Nottingham Forest, in third place, was shocked by Bournemouth with a devastating 5-0 defeat on the south coast.
Newcastle came from behind to claim a 3-1 victory over Southampton, with Alexander Isak netting two goals.
City’s turnaround appears promising despite the tall order of achieving a record-extending fifth consecutive title. After a midseason drop that saw them struggle with only one win out of 13 and nine losses from October to December, they are now back in the top four.
Despite an abysmal start to the game, Gvardiol equalized just before halftime, followed by a critical mistake from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez in the 68th minute. Sanchez, who has now had five errors this season leading directly to goals, ventured too far off his line, allowing Haaland to convert and give City the lead.
“He knows he has to perform better,” Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said regarding Sanchez.
Foden later capped off City’s comeback with a goal, marking his fourth straight league match scoring.
Chelsea had seemed poised to challenge for the title earlier in the season but has now slipped to sixth place after managing only one win from their last seven matches.
Guardiola will hope the uplifting performance will gear his team up for their crucial Champions League clash against Brugge on Wednesday, where they are on the edge of elimination.
Meanwhile, Liverpool coach Arne Slot praised his team’s effort in their match, describing it as “almost a perfect performance” for 85 minutes.
Mohamed Salah reached a milestone with his 100th league goal at Anfield, contributing to a season total of 23.
Ipswich, reeling from a heavy 6-0 defeat to Manchester City the previous week, struggled against Liverpool’s intimidating presence.
Dominik Szoboszlai initiated the scoring, followed by Salah doubling the advantage in the 35th minute. Cody Gakpo then scored twice, during the 44th and the 66th minutes, marking his first league brace in almost two years, before Jacob Greaves scored a consolation goal late for Ipswich.
Arsenal, who recently squandered a two-goal advantage against Aston Villa, once again faced difficulties at Wolverhampton when Myles Lewis-Skelly received a red card early in a scoreless first half.
However, the advantage did not help Wolves, who also lost Joao Gomes to a red card in the 70th minute. Arsenal managed to convert their opportunity through Riccardo Calafiori, who netted the winner with a left-footed volley just four minutes later.
“We will not give up on the title race,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta vowed. “We will confront every challenge as we did today. Winning or losing is another matter, but we will put in our all; I guarantee we will be in the mix.”
Forest has been one of the league’s surprise contenders, but Bournemouth has been quietly assembling a significant run as well. Nonetheless, the outcome at Vitality Stadium took many by surprise as Dango Ouattara achieved a second-half hat trick while Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo also scored, with U.S. international Tyler Adams providing two assists. Bournemouth remained unbeaten in their last 12 matches and is set to face Liverpool at home next week.
On his 51st birthday, Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santos expressed shock at the result, stating, “We must recognize the positive things we’ve done until now and replicate them. When we stray from these patterns, we become very vulnerable.”
Isak further improved his season tally to 19 goals as Newcastle redeemed themselves following last week’s loss to Bournemouth. After falling behind to a Jan Bednarek goal early on, Isak equalized with a penalty and added another shortly after. Sandro Tonali rounded off the scoring with Newcastle’s third after halftime.
Finally, David Moyes has swiftly made his mark at Everton, recording two wins in three games since returning as manager and pulling the team seven points clear of the relegation zone. A penalty from Iliman Ndiaye secured a 1-0 win against Brighton, following a victory against Tottenham earlier.
Everton had previously won only three league matches under former manager Sean Dyche before Moyes returned to the club he previously managed from 2002 to 2013.
“I must emphasize that Dyche left a wealth of good procedures at this club,” Moyes remarked. “They had resilience, toughness, and were hard to beat. Now, we are just trying to add a little more to that.”