Haaland hands City final-day advantage

Is there a surer bet in football than Pep Guardiola's Manchester City doing what they need to do - in other words, win and keep winning - when they have the Premier League title within their grasp?

- David Hytner

Tottenham               0

Manchester City       2

On the three previous occasions that they have been involved in neckand-neck races for the line under Guardiola - the margin for error slim to non-existent - they have never slipped. Their winning sequences have been long and devastating. Here we are again, City closing on yet another title, a fifth in total under Guardiola, this victory an eighth in a row when the pressure is at its most acute.

For one night only, everybody connected to Arsenal had turned into Spurs fans. They were desperate for their hated rivals to do something neighbourly. Any kind of result for Spurs would have put Arsenal in charge of the race before the final day on Sunday.

It did not happen because this is not how it goes with City, however close it was in the final stages, however excruciating it must have been for Arsenal to watch. Because with City leading through an Erling Haaland goal, Spurs had the chances to equalise.

Stefan Ortega was the unexpected City hero. On as a substitute for the injured Ederson, the goalkeeper made a massive block to deny the Spurs replacement, Dejan Kulusevski. But that was trumped in the 86th minute when Brennan Johnson robbed Manuel Akanji and sent Son Heung-min clean through. Again, with north London holding its breath for so many reasons, Ortega saved.