MANCHESTER: Raheem Sterling struck the winning goal as Manchester City reinvigorated their Premier League challenge by coming from behind to defeat title rivals Arsenal 2-1 on Sunday.
Arsenal took an early lead through Theo Walcott, but just as in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Everton, they wilted in the second half as Pep Guardiola’s City stormed back at the Etihad Stadium.
Leroy Sane equalised two minutes into the second period before Sterling netted a 71st-minute winner, lifting City above Arsenal into second place, seven points adrift of leaders Chelsea.
“It means a lot to win against one of the best teams in the Premier League. It was a good comeback,” said Guardiola.
“I’m really happy the fans stayed until the end. Normally in recent games, with 10 minutes (left) they disappear.”
Following recent heavy losses to Chelsea and Leicester City, it gave City a first win over a fellow top-six club since their 2-1 success at Manchester United in early September.
Having previously gone 14 league games unbeaten, Arsene Wenger’s side have now lost successive matches and trail Chelsea by nine points.
Wenger said both of City’s goals should have been ruled out for offside, Sane having benefited from a tight call and David Silva having swung a foot at Sterling’s shot as it flashed past Petr Cech.
“We conceded two offside goals, which is very difficult to accept in a game of that stature,” he said.
“As it is well known, the referees are protected very well, that is right, like the lions in the zoo.
“So we have to live with those decisions.”
City’s players walked out wearing shirts bearing the name of teammate Ilkay Gundogan, who is set to miss the rest of the season after sustaining knee ligament damage in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Watford.
The early evidence suggested their minds were indeed elsewhere as Arsenal took the lead inside five minutes.
An attack prompted by right-back Hector Bellerin culminated in Alexis Sanchez sliding a pass behind Nicolas Otamendi’s back to Walcott, who gathered the ball and slipped a low shot past Claudio Bravo.
Walcott, granted acres of space inside the City box, volleyed over the bar and then came within a whisker of doubling Arsenal’s lead by heading wide from Nacho Monreal’s cross.
Sterling, deployed as a lone striker by Guardiola, came close to instantly cancelling out Walcott’s goal when, stretching to meet Kevin De Bruyne’s cross, he could only head wide from six yards.
But it was not until Yaya Toure met De Bruyne’s corner with a header in first-half stoppage time that visiting goalkeeper Cech had an effort to save.
Guardiola swapped right-backs at half-time, Bacary Sagna coming on for Pablo Zabaleta, but the key change saw De Bruyne move up front, with Sterling switching to the right wing.
City’s wingers were at the start and conclusion of their equaliser, Sterling’s inward dart enabling Silva to loft a pass over the Arsenal defence for Sane to stroke home his first City goal.
Suddenly it was City strolling past their opponents at will.
De Bruyne released Sane, obliging Cech to charge out and save at his near post, Sterling drilled wide from 25 yards and De Bruyne saw a skidding left-footer palmed behind by Cech.
City took the lead a minute later, De Bruyne catapulting a 50-yard pass wide to Sterling, who cut inside Monreal and lashed a left-foot shot into the bottom-right corner.
De Bruyne came close to adding a third when he directed substitute Jesus Navas’s right-wing cross against the near post.
Arsenal’s woe was compounded when midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, a reported City target, was forced off by injury just 13 minutes after coming on in place of Alex Iwobi.
Meanwhile, Danny Rose capped Tottenham’s comeback as they edged out Burnley 2-1 to keep alive their Champions League aspirations.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side were forced to come from behind after Ashley Barnes had opened the scoring for Burnley at White Hart Lane.
Normal service was resumed when Dele Alli almost instantly equalised, but Burnley, despite their struggles away from home, would not roll over and it took until the 71st minute until Rose won it.
Burnley were left frustrated, especially with Moussa Sissoko fortunate to escape a red card for a high challenge before he created the winning goal that moved Tottenham within one point of the top four.
It looked a different story early on as Tottenham should have been ahead within a minute.
Rose fed Harry Kane who in turn freed Alli but the midfielder was way off target as he bore down on Tom Heaton’s goal.
Besides a point at Manchester United, thanks to Heaton’s heroics, Burnley had been a soft touch.
They would need some luck on their side to keep Tottenham at bay. And so it proved early on as Kane dragged his shot wide and Christian Eriksen saw his volley deflected just over.
But Tottenham had looked sloppy at the back and they almost paid for an error in the 11th minute.
Kyle Walker gifted possession to Stephen Ward and the left-back where Andre Gray’s low shot was kept out by the shins of Hugo Lloris.
It was a chance Burnley needed to take given they had set themselves up to defend deep and soak up the pressure from the home side.
Burnley didn’t need asking again as Barnes slid them into a shock 21st-minute lead. This was something of a collector’s item; their first away goal scored in open play this season.