City comeback continues against Chelsea

Manchester City's Premier League revival gathered pace after a 3-1 win over Chelsea moved Pep Guardiola's team up to fourth in the standings on Saturday.

The four-time defending champion remains 12 points behind leader Liverpool, but its unbeaten run in the league extended to six games after a stunning run of defeats at the end of last year.

Still, City had to come from behind at Etihad Stadium after a mistake from debutant Abdukodir Khusanov allowed Chelsea to go ahead inside three minutes.

"Three points. We needed it," Guardiola said after City fought back through goals by Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden. "Emotionally, they come back incredibly well."

Liverpool kept up its charge towards the title by thrashing Ipswich 4-1 and staying six points clear of second-placed Arsenal, which won 1-0 at Wolverhampton.

Meanwhile, third-placed Nottingham Forest was stunned by Bournemouth 5-0 on England's south coast and fifth-placed Newcastle came back from a goal down to beat Southampton 3-1, with Alexander Isak scoring twice.

Revival rolls on

A record-extending fifth title looks beyond City, but there are positive signs for Guardiola after the midseason collapse.

One win in 13 games, including nine losses from October to December, plunged City down the table in the league and the Champions League.

But, victory against Chelsea lifted City back into the top four, even after a woeful start, when Khusanov's weak header allowed Noni Madueke to open the scoring.

Gvardiol equalized shortly before halftime, then an error from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez -his league-leading fifth of this season to lead to a goal — proved decisive in the 68th, when he needlessly raced off his line and allowed Haaland to fire City ahead.

"He is completely aware that he has to do better," Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said of Sanchez.

Foden completed City's comeback, bursting through late on to score in a fourth straight league game for the first time.

At the turn of the year, Chelsea looked capable of mounting a title challenge, but a run of one win in seven has seen it drop to sixth.

Guardiola will have to hope the morale-boosting performance sets his team up well for a decisive Champions League game against Brugge on Wednesday, with City on the brink of elimination.

'Almost perfect'

Liverpool coach Arne Slot called his side's latest win an "almost perfect" performance for 85 minutes.

Mohamed Salah scored his 100th league goal at Anfield and his 23rd overall this season.

Relegation-fighting Ipswich lost 6-0 to Man City last weekend and couldn't cope with the power of the league leader either.

Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring, and Salah doubled the lead in the 35th. Cody Gakpo scored in the 44th and 66th, his first league brace in nearly two years.

Jacob Greaves pulled one back late for Ipswich.

Arsenal leaves it late

After blowing a two-goal lead against Aston Villa last week, Arsenal looked in danger of dropping more points at Wolverhampton when Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off in the first half with the game scoreless.

Wolves couldn't take advantage of the extra man, and were also reduced to 10 when Joao Gomes was red-carded in the 70th.

It took four minutes for Arsenal to capitalize, with Riccardo Calafiori hitting the winner with a left-footed volley from inside the box.

"We're not going to give up on the title race," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. "We're going to face any challenge, any situation like we have done today. Whether we win or not, that is a different question. We are going to try 100 percent, I guarantee we are going to be there."

Forest stunned

Forest has been one of the surprise stories of the league, but Bournemouth has quietly been putting together an impressive run of its own.

Still, few would have expected such a spectacular result at Vitality Stadium.

Dango Ouattara struck a second-half hat-trick for Bournemouth in the 55th, 61st and 87th. Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo were also on target, and US international Tyler Adams provided two assists.

Bournemouth is unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions and plays Liverpool at home next week.

Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo, on his 51st birthday, was stunned by the result.

"We have to realize the things we did well until now, we have to do it," he told the BBC. "When we don't do those things we are a very fragile team."

Isak scores again

Isak took his season tally to 19 goals, as Newcastle bounced back from last week's 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth.

Against last-placed Southampton, Newcastle went behind to Jan Bednarek's goal in the 10th minute. Isak leveled from the penalty spot in the 26th and got his second four minutes later.

Sandro Tonali scored Newcastle's third after the break.

Moyes magic

David Moyes has made a quick impact at Everton after overseeing his second win in three games since returning as manager, and pulling the club seven points away from the relegation places.

Iliman Ndiaye's penalty secured a 1-0 win at Brighton, which followed a victory against Tottenham last week.

Everton won only three times in the league under former manager Sean Dyche before Moyes was hired this month, returning to the club he led from 2002-13.

"I have got to say Dychey left an awful lot of good things at this football club," Moyes said. "Resilience, being hard to beat, tough, they had all that. We are now just trying to add a little bit more."

Agencies via Xinhua