City march on towards title
London, UK - Manchester City remain ten points clear at the top of the English Premier League (EPL) as Raheem Sterling's early header was enough to beat Arsenal 1-0 on Sunday.
Manchester United and Leicester are City's closest challengers as United saw off Newcastle 3-1 at Old Trafford and Leicester won 2-1 away to Aston Villa.
An 18th consecutive win in all competitions edged City ever closer to a third league title in four years, even if Pep Guardiola's men did not hit the heights they have in recent weeks at the Emirates.
Sterling could have scored three times inside the first five minutes, but his soaring leap to nod home Riyad Mahrez's cross secured all three points as City kept a tenth clean sheet in their last 13 league games.
"The people think it looks easy. This is so difficult," said Guardiola.
"I didn't expect this consistency in the past month. Winning in this period these games 1-0 is what we need."
Arsenal remain in tenth with their best chance of a return to the Champions League next season dependent on success in the Europa League.
Man Utd second
Manchester United opened up six-point cushion over Chelsea as they deepened Newcastle's fears of being dragged into the bottom three.
Marcus Rashford's thunderous near post strike opened the scoring, but was quickly cancelled out by Allan SaintMaximin in a spirited first-half performance by the visitors.
However, Daniel James's powerful drive restored United's lead before Bruno Fernandes stroked home a penalty for his 22nd goal of the season.
Victory keeps Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men ahead of Leicester on goal difference. "We had to find a way to win it in the second-half. The first-half wasn't up to the standard that we wanted," added Solskjaer.
Solskjaer is, however, not giving up hope that United can challenge City for the English Premier League title, despite the scintillating form of the league leaders.
"We've got to be there just in case," said Solskjaer. "Every time we get three points we've done our job and that's what we've got to do and see what other teams do."