Deadly duo devastates Arsenal's aspirations

Pep Guardiola labeled Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland "extraordinary" after the Manchester City stars destroyed Arsenal in a 4-1 victory that put the defending champion in control of the English Premier League title race.

De Bruyne was at his masterful best as he put City ahead with a lung-bursting run and cool finish.

The Belgium midfielder provided the cross for John Stones to head City's second, then netted again himself before Haaland wrapped up the crucial victory in the final seconds.

"The connection between Kevin and Erling is extraordinary, today we tried to use it as much as possible," Guardiola told BT Sport.

Second-placed City is now just two points behind leader Arsenal with two games in hand.

If City win six of its last seven games, it is guaranteed to win the title for a fifth time in six seasons.

However, Guardiola isn't getting carried just yet, and the Spaniard urged his players to focus on their next three league games.

City travels to Fulham on Sunday, and then will play West Ham and Leeds at home.

Guardiola's men are also due to play Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals during that period, with an FA Cup final date against Manchester United in June as they chase a remarkable treble.

"I know the next three games are really important. After two games at home against West Ham and Leeds, these three games will dictate if we can do what we want to do," Guardiola said.

"The reality is today we are two points behind Arsenal, they are in front of us."

De Bruyne echoed Guardiola as he refused to say the win had secured another title for City.

"It is too long. We know what people said about whoever won this game but it is so hard, a lot of things can happen," De Bruyne said.

"We have two games in hand but we are still behind them."

'Could have scored more'

On his deadly double act with Haaland, who assisted the Belgian's goals, De Bruyne said: "I think we set up a bit differently. Instead of two number eights I had the freedom to go left or right depending on where the space was.

"We could have scored more. The second half was 50-50 but we didn't give much away.

"They're a class team and hard to play against. We had to be at our best today, and we were."

There remains work to do for City, not just to retain its title but potentially becomes just the second English team to complete the treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in the same season.

Conquering Europe for the first time remains the biggest challenge, especially with holder Madrid waiting in the semifinals of the Champions League.

Manchester United will also have a shot at stopping its local rival matching the historic feat of Alex Ferguson's United side in the 1998-99 season in the FA Cup final.

But on this form City will take some stopping.

After leading the table for much of the season, Arsenal's unexpected bid to win a first title in 19 years is in danger of fizzling out.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta conceded his players deserved nothing from a game in which they were completely outclassed.

"The analysis is clear, the better team won the game. They were at their best especially in the first half and we were nowhere near our level," he said.

"When that happens the gap becomes too big. We got punished and we could've been punished even more."

But Arteta hasn't given up hope that Arsenal can recover from a damaging run of four games without a win in time to hold off City's charge.

"We are where we are with five games to go. Those players deserve a lot of credit to be (fighting) nine and half months against this team," he said. "I've been almost 22 years in this country. I've seen a lot of things and I know how much it shifts from game to game.

"We have to lift our players because they are suffering tonight and we played against an exceptional team. We know we are an exceptional team as well but today we were not at the races."

AFP