Manchester City Hand Champions League Initiative to Manchester United
Arsenal twice came from behind to draw 2-2 against
Manchester City in what was the latter club manager
Manuel Pellegrini's final home game in-charge before
he is replaced by Bayern Munich's Pep Guardiola after
the end of the season.
Arsenal twice came from behind, goals from Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez, cancelling out efforts from Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne in
what was City manager Manuel Pellegrini's final home game in charge
before he is replaced by Bayern Munich's Guardiola after the end of the season.London: Pep Guardiola could find himself without Champions
League football next season after Manchester City's hopes of qualifying
suffered a major setback in a 2-2 draw with Premier League top-four rivals
Arsenalat Eastlands on Sunday.
This
result left fourth-placed City just two points in front of Manchester United,
who have two games in hand on their local rivals.
FA Cup finalists United, currently fifth, will definitely finish above City and deny Guardiola, who guided Barcelona to two Champions League titles before joining
Bayern, a place in European football's premier club competition if they end their
league season with wins against West Ham and Bournemouth.
The draw meant Arsenal remained third but they moved to within two points of
second-placed Tottenham Hotspur, after their arch-north London rivals saw a
miserable week end with a 2-1 loss at home to Southampton just hours earlier
on Sunday.
City were ahead as early as the eighth minute when Argentina striker Aguero got
on the end of Fernandinho's header into the box.
But just minutes later, France striker Giroud equalised for Arsenal when he rose unmarked to head in a corner.
City, beaten in the Champions League semi-finals by Real Madrid in midweek,
restored their lead in the 51st minute when Belgium midfielder de Bruyne's low
shot from the edge of the box beat Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech.
Arsenal rallied again when Chile striker Sanchez, ultimately denying compatriot
Pellegrini a farewell home win, struck in the 68th-minute after getting on the end of Giroud's flick into the box.
City though almost won the game late on, only for Wilfried Bony's shot to hit the crossbar.
Concerningly, ahead of June's European Championships, Gunners striker Danny Welbeck went off with an apparent knee injury in the first half.
England manager Roy Hodgson is due to name his France 2016 squad on
Thursday.
Davis double downs Spurs
Tottenham had already seen their slim chance of winning the Premier League
evaporate with a 2-2 draw away to capital rivals Chelsea on Monday -- a result that confirmed 5,000/1 pre-season rank outsiders Leicester had won the title instead.
Sunday's match at White Hart Lane started well enough for the hosts, with
Tottenham opening the scoring in the 16th minute through South Korea midfielder
Son Heung-Min.
But two goals from Northern Ireland's Steven Davis saw Southampton to victory and meant Spurs had now gone three games without a win.
Tottenham, however, do still have a vastly superior goal difference to Arsenal and
can still finish above them for the first time since 1994/95 if they win at relegation-threatened Newcastle in their final game of the season.
"We needed to be more solid and show more consistency. I'm disappointed but
we're still fighting," said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino, in charge at
Southampton until moving to White Hart Lane in 2014.
"It's important to finish second," the Argentinian added.
Victory saw sixth-placed Southampton go above West Ham and into a Europa
League spot.
"It's a great win for us, because to win here against Tottenham, one of the
best teams in the league, is a big result," said Southampton manager Ronald
Koeman.
"If we can win next week at home we will have 63 points - a really fantastic
achievement by the team. We like to play in Europe, and it's important for
the clubs and the players," the Dutch great added.
In Sunday's other Premier League match, Liverpool rounded off an
excellent week, that saw them beat Villarreal to reach the Europa League final, with a 2-0 win at home to Watford thanks to a goal in each half at Anfield from Joe Allen and Brazil's Roberto Firmino.