Sports
Man City Defeat To Brentford Guarantees Arsenal Top Of Premier League At Christmas

Ivan Toney quickly put aside the setback of not being named in England’s World Cup squad by scoring twice as Brentford stunned Manchester City to win 2-1 at Ethihad stadium which ultimately favors Gunner’s Premier League title challenge.
The result guarantees that Arsenal will be top of the Premier League table at Christmas regardless of their result against Wolverhampton Wanderers later today, with the Gunners having the chance to extend their lead over Man City to five points heading into the international break.
Pep Guardiola warned before the game that his stars could have “one eye” on staying injury free before the World Cup and the City boss’ fears were realized as Man City slipped to a first home defeat since February
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Phil Foden had leveled things up for the champions on the stroke of half-time, fizzing a blistering half-volley into the top corner, but Man City was otherwise frustrated by a resilient Brentford side throughout more than 100 minutes of football due to the lengthy period of stoppage time.
The victory is Brentford’s first away league win of the season, their first over Man City since 1937 and inflicts a first home league defeat on the Citizens since February, with Pep Guardiola’s men having won each of their previous 11 such matches heading into this one.
The hosts could have little complaint on the balance of chances too, with Toney only being denied a hat-trick by a point-blank save from Ederson and a desperate clearance off the line by Kevin De Bruyne either side of his stoppage-time winner, while it took a stunning piece of defending from Aymeric Laporte to deny the visitors another goal.
By contrast, Man City found clear-cut chances difficult to come by, with the returning Erling Braut Haaland largely kept quiet by a disciplined Brentford defensive performance.
Even Foden’s goal was only really a half-chance as he blasted the ball into the top corner after it had fallen to him from a corner, levelling the scores right on the stroke of halftime following an opening 45 minutes that contained more VAR checks than gilt-edged chances.
Toney’s opener was an instinctive header in the 16th minute after a Brentford free-kick had been flicked on, and he then provided his response to being left out of Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad in the perfect way with a late winner.
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Man City will have been forgiven for thinking that the 10 minutes of stoppage time – awarded due to a non-serious head injury suffered by Laporte and technical issues between the officials and the VAR crew – would have aided their bid for a winner as they dominated possession and territory in the second half.
However, the Bees had a sting in the tail and hit Guardiola’s men on the counter-attack late on, with Toney turning home Joshua Dasilva’s pass in the 98th minute.
It almost got worse immediately afterward as Brentford again broke, this time with a three-on-one, but De Bruyne got back to deny Toney a certain hat-trick.