Manchester City move closer to Arsenal after O’Reilly double beats Newcastle

Manchester City boosted their Premier League title hopes with an important 2–1 win over Newcastle United on Saturday.Nico O’Reilly scored twice at the Etihad Stadium. He gave City the lead in the first half, and after Lewis Hall equalised for Newcastle, O’Reilly scored again to secure the victory.City were not at their best, but they did enough to win. The result moves them within two points of league leaders Arsenal.Arsenal travel to Tottenham on Sunday, but no matter what happens in that match, City are in control of the title race. They will have a game in hand after this weekend and will host Arsenal in April. If City win their remaining 11 matches, they will guarantee another league title under Pep Guardiola.Guardiola had said on Friday that he “couldn’t care less” about Arsenal’s recent slip in form. Arsenal have won only two of their last seven league games, while City are improving at the right time.The win over Newcastle was City’s fifth in a row in all competitions and extended their unbeaten run to eight matches.It was already the fourth time the two teams have met this season, with a fifth meeting set for next month in the FA Cup last 16.Newcastle have still never won a Premier League game at the Etihad Stadium, losing 20 times there. They also lost at City in the League Cup semi-finals this season.After travelling 5,000 miles to Baku for their Champions League play-off match against Qarabag on Wednesday, Newcastle were very tired. Because of the long trip, they asked the Premier League to move their game in Manchester from an early kick-off to Saturday evening.City started the game fast, trying to take advantage of Newcastle being tired.They scored in the 14th minute. Erling Haaland passed the ball to Omar Marmoush, who then set up O’Reilly. O’Reilly shot from the edge of the box and beat Nick Pope.Newcastle almost scored right away. Anthony Gordon took a strong shot, but goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved it.City’s defence made mistakes, and in the 22nd minute Newcastle scored. City failed to clear the ball from a corner. Lewis Hall shot from outside the box, and the ball hit Rayan Ait-Nouri and went into the net.City scored again five minutes later. Haaland crossed the ball into the box, and O’Reilly headed it in for his second goal.In the second half, Hall nearly scored again, but his shot went just wide.City’s manager Pep Guardiola was unhappy because his team could not score another goal, urging his players to "keep the ball better" as he stalked the touchline. Antoine Semenyo also missed a good chance.In the end, City held on and won the match.