MANCHESTER CITY closed in on retaining the Premier League title as Ilkay Gundogan scored twice in a 3-0 win on Sunday that kept Everton looking over their shoulders in the relegation battle.
Pep Guardiola’s men move four points clear of Arsenal, who are in action later at home to Brighton, with three games remaining for both sides.
City’s superior goal difference means five points from their remaining matches will likely be enough for a fifth title in six seasons.
Everton remain just one point outside the relegation zone and could slip into the bottom three if Leicester beat Liverpool on Monday.
By contrast to the Toffees’ troubles, City are still well on course for a treble and could afford the luxury of an afternoon off for some of their stars ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final, second leg against Real Madrid.
Guardiola made four changes from the side that drew 1-1 in the first leg in the Spanish capital on Tuesday with John Stones, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish left on the bench.
It took the visitors 35 minutes to find their rhythm, by which point they should have been behind as Mason Holgate somehow spooned over a glorious chance to open the scoring after James Tarkowski headed down a corner.
Within three minutes of Holgate’s sitter, the game was over as a contest.
Guardiola had stern words for Gundogan despite the German scoring twice in last weekend’s 2-1 win over Leeds after the midfielder missed a late penalty having been given the chance to complete his hat-trick by Erling Haaland.
Gundogan made amends with a stunning touch to control and then flick home Riyad Mahrez’s cross in one movement to break the deadlock.
Moments later, he created the second with a floated cross that invited Haaland to power home his 52nd goal of the season with just his third touch in 39 minutes.
Everton boss Sean Dyche showed he too was already thinking about his side’s final two games of the season by replacing talismanic striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has missed most of the season through injury, with Neal Maupay at half-time.
Guardiola could not have wished for a more serene second half to prepare for the visit of the European champions in midweek as another moment of brilliance from Gundogan made it 3-0 six minutes after the restart.
The 32-year-old is probably into the final month of his seven-year stay in Manchester with his contract up at the end of the season and Barcelona reportedly ready to pounce on a free transfer, but looks set to go out on a high.
Gundogan curled a free-kick beyond the desperate dive of Jordan Pickford for his ninth goal of the season.
Goal difference could be decisive in the battle to beat the drop and Everton did at least manage to stop the bleeding at three.
Indeed the home side came closest to scoring in the final quarter when Amadou Onana’s header came crashing back off the crossbar.
Elsewhere, West Ham wasted a chance to seal their Premier League survival as goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa clinched Brentford’s 2-0 victory on Sunday.
David Moyes’ side would have been guaranteed to avoid relegation with a victory in West London.
But Mbeumo and Wissa netted in the first half to leave the Hammers still needing one win from their last two games to be sure of staying up.
West Ham are six points clear of third-bottom Leeds, who have just two matches left. However, second-bottom Leicester would move within four points of the east Londoners if they beat Liverpool on Monday.
With games against relegation rivals Leeds and Leicester to come in their remaining fixtures this was a missed opportunity for West Ham to put their lingering relegation fears to bed.
West Ham are dreaming of a first major trophy since the 1980 FA Cup after beating AZ Alkmaar 2-1 in the Europa Conference League semi-final first leg on Thursday.
But they have now only won one of the seven top-flight matches that have come within three days of them playing in Europe this season.
Moyes had made nine changes with Thursday’s second leg at Alkmaar looming.
Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen dropped to the bench, with Michail Antonio missing out due to a calf injury.
The gamble backfired and Brentford’s lively start was rewarded in the 20th minute as a flowing move cut through the West Ham defence.
Mathias Jensen’s pin-point pass teed up Mbeumo and he caressed a cool finish past Lukasz Fabianski.
Brentford had lost just once when opening the scoring this season, while West Ham had only one victory when conceding the first goal.
There looked little chance of those sequences reversing as Brentford kept up the pressure.
Damsgaard spotted Aaron Hickey’s run into the area and the defender squared for Wissa, whose low strike was saved by Fabianski.
It was a warning West Ham failed to heed as Wissa doubled the Bees’ lead in the 43rd minute.
Jensen’s long throw was flicked on by Ben Mee and Wissa headed powerfully past Fabianski.
Danny Ings’ shot was pushed away for a corner by David Raya in a rare moment of menace from West Ham.
Wissa fired wide after a sloppy mistake from Tomas Soucek that summed up West Ham’s lethargic display.
Mikkel Damsgaard should have made it three for Brentford but he volleyed over after Jensen’s corner was flicked on by Mee.
West Ham were denied a lifeline when Ings’ goal was chalked off for a handball by Divin Mubama.
