Manchester City thrashed West Brom 5-0 to move back top of the Premier League on Tuesday as Arsenal aided its push towards the European places with a 3-1 win at Southampton.
City has now won 11 consecutive games since West Brom earned a shock 1-1 draw at the Etihad last month.
Pep Guardiola’s men have hit top form since and did not miss the presence of the injured Kevin De Bruyne in blowing away the Baggies by scoring four goals before half-time.
Ilkay Gundogan opened the floodgates by curling home from the edge of the box before Joao Cancelo’s controversial strike doubled City’s lead.
Distracted defence
The West Brom defence was distracted by a wrongly raised offside flag before the Portuguese full-back found the net, but the goal stood after a VAR review.
Gundogan then took his tally to seven goals in his last eight league games before Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling rounded off the scoring.
West Brom has now conceded 17 goals in Sam Allardyce’s four home games in charge as it remain second bottom of the table, six points off safety.
Fine run
Guardiola’s former assistant Mikel Arteta is also enjoying a fine run of form as Arsenal has taken 16 from the last possible 18 points.
The Gunners avenged their FA Cup to Southampton at the weekend despite falling behind after three minutes to Stuart Armstrong’s sweet strike.
Nicolas Pepe quickly levelled before Bukayo Saka rounded Alex McCarthy and slotted home to give the visitors a half-time lead.
Alexandre Lacazette sealed a vital three points 18 minutes from time as Arsenal moved up to eighth and within five points of the top four.
The results: Crystal Palace 2 (Zaha 3, Batshuayi 90) lost to West Ham 3 (Soucek 9, 25, Dawson 65); Newcastle 1 (Almiron 57) lost to Leeds 2 (Raphinha 17, Harrison 61); Southampton 1 (Armstrong 3) lost to Arsenal 3 (Pepe 8, Saka 39, Lacazette 73); West Brom 0 lost to Manchester City 5 (Gundogan 6, 30, Cancelo 20, Mahrez 45, Sterling 57).
