Nico O’Reilly scored twice as Manchester City closed the gap on Arsenal before North London derby clash.
Pep Guardiola’s side made a brilliant start to the match, controlling the ball and looking to get forward at every opportunity in the early exchanges.
City also took the lead after just 14 minutes, with Omar Marmoush playing a great pass through to Nico O’Reilly, who, despite having the option to lay the ball off to Erling Haaland, opted to take the shot on himself and rifled home past Nick Pope.
Newcastle responded well to going behind and had their equaliser less than 10 minutes later. A corner was sent in which was only half-cleared by City.
READ ALSO:
Jacob Ramsay was then able to poke the ball to Lewis Hall on the edge of the box, who struck a low effort which took a wicked deflection off Rayan Ait-Nouri to take it away from Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The match wasn’t level for long, though, with O’Reilly once again putting his side ahead. Haaland turned provider on the right-hand side, sending in a superb ball, and O’Reilly was on hand to power his header back across goal past Pope.
Eddie Howe’s side thought they had another equaliser when Dan Burn rose highest to head home a Sandro Tonali delivery, only for the flag to go up for offside.
City struggled to get going in the second half, giving the ball away cheaply and struggling to create clear chances in the final third.
In an almost role-reverse to the first half, it was Newcastle who began to dominate possession and it was City who were looking to play on the counter-attack.
The hosts had a huge chance to put the game beyond Newcastle with 10 minutes to go when Ait-Nouri was released down the left-hand side with nothing but green grass to run into.
The Algerian drove into the box and had either the goal to aim for or Haaland to lplay in on the right-hand side but instead did neither, managing only to take a poor touch and lose the ball at the vital moment.
Late substitute Phil Foden also had a huge chance to put City 3-1 up, firing an effort on goal from close range, but Pope was equal to it, pulling off a superb save with his legs.0llLLLLLLOOLLOLOLLKPWhen the final whistle went, it was evident from Guardiola’s celebration that this felt like a significant victory in the title race.
