Erling Haaland celebrates at the end of the match between Arsenal and Manchester City GLYN KIRK / AFP
Clinical Manchester City knocked Arsenal off their Premier League perch as second-half goals by Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland earned the champions a 3-1 victory in a crunch top-of-the-table clash at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Arsenal had come from a goal down and looked capable of ending a 10-game losing streak in the league against City but they ultimately came up short as their hopes of a first league title since 2004 suffered a setback.
Mikel Arteta's side, top of the standings since August, hit back strongly after Kevin de Bruyne's 24th-minute opener and were deservedly level through Bukayo Saka's penalty.
But they struggled to maintain the intensity after the break and hardly helped themselves with a succession of errors.
City had a penalty overturned by VAR but kept probing and took the lead when Grealish fired in his third league goal of the season in the 72nd minute.
Haaland then netted his 26th league goal of the campaign to silence the home crowd and put Pep Guardiola's side on 51 points, the same as Arsenal but with a superior goal difference.
Arsenal's first home defeat of the season felt like a pivotal moment in the title race, although with a game in hand they are still very much in contention.
After picking up only one point from their last three games, however, they need to re-boot quickly.
Pakistan appointed former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed as head coach of their test team for the two-match series in Bangladesh next month, the country's cricket board said on Saturday.
Coventry City ended their 25-year absence from the Premier League with a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers, securing promotion from the Championship with three games to spare on Friday.
Gujarat Titans adapted to conditions to secure a five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday, fast bowler Kagiso Rabada said, focusing on tight bowling instead of the explosive batting that has been the hallmark of the Indian Premier League.
Carlos Alcaraz will miss the Madrid Open for the second consecutive year after withdrawing on Friday with a wrist injury, dealing another blow to the world number two's clay court preparations ahead of his French Open title defence.
Novak Djokovic is still working through the injury problems that forced him to miss recent tournaments in Miami and Monte Carlo and said on Friday that he will not feature at next week's Madrid Open, one of the last stops before the French Open.
Dubai Police, in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Interior, have arrested an Irish fugitive accused of involvement in an organised criminal group linked to international crimes in his home country.