EPL: Man City Edge Newcastle, Cut Arsenal's PL Lead to 2 Points

City slash Arsenal's pl lead to two points

Manchester City defeat Newcastle United 2-1, cutting Arsenal's lead at the top of the Premier League to two points.

Pope came to his side's rescue with a double save from Haaland and Phil Foden's efforts with a few minutes to play...

Manchester City edged Newcastle 2-1, cutting Arsenal's Premier League lead to just two points. The win marks City's third consecutive victory, with Nico O'Reilly scoring a brace, including a superb long-range strike and a header from Erling Haaland's cross. Lewis Hall had equalized for Newcastle, but City held on despite a nervy second half.

The victory was a welcome boost for Pep Guardiola's side, who dominated possession but struggled to break down Newcastle's defense. Newcastle's recent form had taken a hit after their midweek trip to Azerbaijan, and they failed to capitalize on their chances.

Title-chasing City looked excellent in the run-up to the opener, when Omar Marmoush drove his side forward and found Nico O’Reilly, who ignored the overlapping run of Erling Haaland and instead fired into the bottom corner from just outside the area.

But the response from the visitors was excellent, and just eight minutes passed before parity was once again restored.

Lewis Hall collected the ball from Jacob Ramsey following a corner, rasping in a shot from the edge of the box which took a cruel deflection off Rayan Ait-Nouri and bounced past a flailing Gianluigi Donnarumma into the bottom right.

However, Newcastle were only on level terms for five minutes as City took the lead again through O’Reilly, who rose to meet Haaland’s cross from the right before directing his header back across goal and into the net.

Dan Burn was unfortunate to be marginally offside while heading in just before the break, and Newcastle remained firmly in the game well into the second half.

Nick Pope’s save from Antoine Semenyo helped their cause, but most of the pressure was at the other end.

City defended well, though, limiting their opponents to just a few efforts from distance as the second half failed to replicate the excitement of the first.

Pope came to his side's rescue with a double save from Haaland and Phil Foden's efforts with a few minutes to play, though the players in front of him weren’t able to take advantage and salvage a point.

A Nico O'Reilly double leaves @ManCity just 2 points behind Arsenal 👀 pic.twitter.com/bAhPbb5Ew9

— Premier League (@premierleague) February 21, 2026

The stakes are high for Arsenal as they face Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby on Sunday. A win is crucial, as anything else would allow Manchester City to take the top spot if they win their game in hand.

Newcastle's been on a roll lately, but they're still far from their Premier League targets. They need to beat Everton next to stay in the hunt for European spots.