The China Mail - Arsenal stretch lead at top of Premier League as Man City falter

The Gunners have long been favourites to win their first English league crown since 2004 but Pep Guardiola's men have loomed large in their rear-view mirror.

On a busy night of action, Arsenal drew first blood in the battle for English title as Bukayo Saka celebrated his 300th Arsenal appearance with a goal in the ninth minute at Brighton's Amex Stadium.

The England man received the ball on the right before cutting in and hitting a shot from the edge of the penalty area which took a deflection off Carlos Baleba before squirming through the legs of goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

The home side dominated possession and had more shots but Arsenal kept them at bay, digging deep to see out a nerve-jangling 1-0 win.

"This was a really difficult one after everything we've been through in the last few weeks," Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta told TNT Sports.

"Every game in the Premier League offers you different things. Big credit to the boys because the effort they put in is astronomical."

Second-placed City, who have a game in hand, appeared to be on course to stay within five points of top spot.

But they twice surrendered their lead to relegation-threatened Forest, whose battling performance kept them out of the drop zone, above West Ham on goal difference.

January signing Antoine Semenyo volleyed home for City in the first half but Morgan Gibbs-White produced a moment of magic to pull Forest level, backheeling home in the 56th minute.

That sparked a renewed sense of urgency from City and they were back in front just six minutes later after the unmarked Rodri headed home Rayan Ait-Nouri's corner.

However, Forest were far from beaten and midfielder Elliot Anderson picked out the bottom corner of the goal with a beautifully crafted finish to claim a precious point for Vitor Pereira's team.

"(There are) still many games to play, them (Arsenal) one less," said Guardiola. "Now it's Newcastle (in the FA Cup) and I always think about what's next.

"If we analyse then in general it was a good performance and there were many good things. Of course we have things we can improve but in general pretty good."

- Carrick suffers defeat -

Michael Carrick suffered his first defeat over his two spells as Manchester United's interim manager as the visitors failed to capitalise on their man advantage against Newcastle at St James' Park.

Midfielder Jacob Ramsey was sent off early in first-half stoppage time after being shown a second yellow card for simulation.

Despite being a man down, Anthony Gordon put Newcastle ahead from the penalty spot, only for Casemiro to head the visitors level even deeper into added time.

But Newcastle goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale proved unbeatable in the second half and substitute William Osula produced a moment of inspiration in the 90th minute, sprinting down the right before cutting inside before curling brilliantly into the far corner.

Carrick said he was "bitterly disappointed" by the 2-1 defeat for his third-placed team.

"I don't think it was the 10 men, we just didn't play good enough," he said. "We can't make excuses for that. We all take responsibility for that.

"It was just the quality of the performance, it wasn't character."

Elsewhere in the tight race for Champions League qualification, Joao Pedro scored a hat-trick for Chelsea, who came from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1, pushing Liverpool down to sixth spot.

The win lifted Chelsea to fifth place in the Premier League, three points behind fourth-placed Villa.

West Ham beat Fulham 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Crysencio Summerville to move level with Forest on 28 points.

Forest and West Ham are now just one point behind Tottenham, who host Crystal Palace on Thursday.

P.Ho--ThChM