• Premier League

Sports Desk, Apr 29 (EFE).-

Josko Gvardiol and Erling Haaland struck one goal each as Manchester City beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 to maintain pressure on leaders Arsenal in the English Premier League on Sunday.

Arsenal survived an anxious second half to beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 in the afternoon to open a four-point gap, leaving the onus on Manchester City to respond.

Pep Guardiola’s defending champions did what they had been required to do, though they were far from their best against desperate Forest, who were brave but not incisive enough to create any trouble for the visitors.

The result leaves City just one point behind the Gunners but with a game in hand.

Forest created the first chance before one minute was completed in the game, but Gvardiol blocked Neco Williams’ shot to save City from falling behind early.

City took the lead in 32 minutes as Gvardiol brought his new-found scoring instinct into play, heading home a Kevin de Bruyne corner.

This was the second Premier League goal for the Croatian left-back and his third in five games across all competitions.

Chris Wood missed a golden opportunity to put the game on level, but he miskicked with the goal open in front of him following a superb cutback to him from Gonzalo Montiel.

Forest’s Brazilian center-back Murillo saw his flick kiss the post and go over just before halftime after an in-swinging corner that increased the home side’s frustration.

City punished the side in the second half as Haaland came off the bench to score from a De Bruyne pass and seal the contest.

This was Guardiola’s record 300 Premier League games as City coach, and he won 221 of them, a winning percentage of 73.6, even better than Sir Alex Ferguson.

But the Spanish coach thinks his job is far from done. “With four games left, it’s like climbing a mountain,” he said. “They are very tough games. The only thing is still we extend for one more week it’s in our hands.

“If we draw a game, we are not going to win the Premier League. It is what it is. “We extend this in a difficult game. Now rest a little bit and prepare the next game.” City will take on Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Etihad in their next match on Saturday. EFE am/pd