Man City 3-0 Brentford: The title challengers toiled for an hour before Doku’s opener helped close the gap on leaders Arsenal
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(Reuters)
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Jeremy Doku struck again as Manchester City kept their title hopes alive with a vital 3-0 win over Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday.
The winger scored his fifth goal in six games before Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush wrapped up a victory at the Etihad Stadium that cut Arsenal’s advantage at the top to two points.
Both contenders now have three games to play, with Arsenal the next in action at relegation-threatened West Ham on Sunday.
Jeremy Doku brilliantly opened the scoring (Martin Rickett/PA)open image in gallery
Jeremy Doku brilliantly opened the scoring (Martin Rickett/PA)
After Monday’s frustrating draw at Everton, City needed to win to keep any pressure on the Gunners and – as at Hill Dickinson Stadium, where they were facing defeat until the final moments, Doku came to their rescue.
The Belgian struck in now trademark style to break the deadlock on the hour with a fine curling shot before Haaland and substitute Marmoush made the points certain.
Victory was not without controversy, however, as European hopefuls Brentford had two penalty appeals turned down and City captain Bernardo Silva might have been sent off on another day for lashing out.
But ultimately City, who were again missing the influential Rodri, did what they needed to do.
Doku repeatedly troubled Brentford cutting in from the left and he threatened in the opening minutes when he shot straight at Caoimhin Kelleher.
Silva and Tijjani Reijnders both shot over and Haaland headed tamely at Kelleher.
Haaland had another opportunity from a Doku cutback but his shot was blocked by Kristoffer Ajer and Kelleher smothered Nathan Ake’s follow-up.
Erling Haaland scrambled a back heel into the net to ease the pressure on Cityopen image in gallery
Erling Haaland scrambled a back heel into the net to ease the pressure on City (Reuters)
Despite City’s dominance, they looked vulnerable at times and they had a scare when Gianluigi Donnarumma missed Michael Kayode’s long throw-in and Matheus Nunes cleared off the line.
Nunes was also involved in some of the game’s main talking points, the first coming after the dangerous Kevin Schade raced onto a long ball.
The Portuguese chased back and Schade went down as the pair made contact on the edge of the area but nothing was given by referee Michael Salisbury.
There was further controversy when Silva escaped with a yellow card after striking the back of Nathan Collins’ leg with his arm in frustration following a tangle in the area.
Omar Marmoush added a third goal which could be a huge benefit for City's goal differenceopen image in gallery
Omar Marmoush added a third goal which could be a huge benefit for City's goal difference (Reuters)
Rayan Cherki drove wide as City tried to step up the urgency after the break but manager Pep Guardiola felt the need to make changes on the hour, sending on Phil Foden and Marmoush.
Within seconds the game changed, although it had nothing to do with the substitutes as Doku again ran at the Brentford defence. The Belgian got lucky when an attempted pass was cut out by Mikkel Damsgaard and rolled straight back to him, but there was nothing fortunate about his sublime finish.
Brentford appealed again for a spot-kick following another incident involving Schade and Nunes but it was cleared.
Haaland made sure of victory when he backheeled in amid a goalmouth scramble 15 minutes from time and Kelleher produced a fine save to deny Foden before Marmoush completed the scoring in stoppage time.