City gunning for Gunners

manchester: Manchester City and Aston Villa kept the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal with wins.

Nottingham Forest pulled further away from the relegation zone with a 3-0 victory against Tottenham and Sunderland beat Newcastle 1-0 in the Tyne-Wear derby after an own-goal from Nick Woltemade.

Arsenal had extended their lead at the top of the standings to five points with a 2-1 win against Wolves on Saturday. But a day later their closest rivals both responded with victories - second-place City winning 3-0 at Crystal Palace and Villa, in third, twice coming back to beat West Ham 3-2 at the London Stadium.

City are two points behind Arsenal and Villa are a point further back.

Revenge for City

Beaten by Palace in the FA Cup final last season, City exacted some revenge to take all three points at Selhurst Park.

“They are so strong. Every time we play against them it’s so difficult,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “Still, we are not top, but we are learning and after what happened we will be closer in the future.”

Erling Haaland scored his 101st Premier League goal to put City in front late in the first half and he got his second of the match with an 89th-minute penalty. The Norwegian has 36 goals in 27 appearances for club and country in another remarkable scoring season. He is the league’s leading scorer with 17 goals. Phil Foden got City’s other goal in between Haaland’s double.

Boost for Alonso

madrid: Kylian Mbappé scored on his return from injury on Sunday, leading Real Madrid to a 2-1 win at Alaves in the La Liga to relieve some of the pressure on coach Xabi Alonso. Rodrygo also scored as Madrid moved back within four points of leaders Barcelona. Madrid had won only two of its last eight games in all competitions and were coming off a 2-1 home loss to City in the Champions League.