De Bruyne sparks City comeback win

Kevin De Bruyne wants to deliver Champions League qualification to Manchester City as a parting gift to his club of the last 10 years.

The Belgium playmaker certainly looked like a man on a mission, sparking City's remarkable fightback against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.

After City fell two goals behind inside 21 minutes, the 33-year-old De Bruyne curled a freekick in off the post to begin the comeback, and had a hand in goals by Omar Marmoush and Mateo Kovacic in the first half. James McAtee added a fourth — off a pass from goalkeeper Ederson, who later came off injured — before fellow academy product Nico O'Reilly wrapped up the 5-2 comeback win.

It was a display showing the enduring quality of De Bruyne, who announced last week he would be leaving City at the end of the season, and he was given a standing ovation after being substituted in the 87th minute.

"I want to go away with a Champions League (place) for this team because they deserve it," he said. "We've been in the Champions League for the nine, 10 years that I've been here, so I hope we can do that for the team next year."

The victory lifted City — the winner of the last four Premier League titles, but a shadow of its former self this season — into fourth place above Chelsea and Newcastle, which have games in hand in the race to secure England's five Champions League spots. That's where all the drama lies for the remainder of this campaign.

City moved two points behind third-placed Nottingham Forest, which conceded in stoppage time to lose 1-0 at home to Everton. Aston Villa won 3-0 at already-relegated Southampton to climb to fifth and stay a point behind City. Chelsea and Newcastle are a point further back.

Any realistic chances Arsenal had of winning the title disappeared weeks ago, and the second-placed Gunners were held 1-1 by Brentford, leaving them 10 points behind Liverpool as of Saturday night, leaving the league leader needing just three more wins to guarantee a record-tying 20th English top-flight title.

Injuries have affected De Bruyne's impact in recent seasons, but his class still shines through, with his goal a turning point against Palace, and his assist for Kovacic being the 119th of his Premier League career.

"I'd say, basically, I've been painfree for the last six weeks, and that's a massive difference," De Bruyne said. "It was hard, but now I feel free, and am able to do a lot of training sessions. I don't know what's going to happen, but I want to play on. We'll see where I can end up."

His goal from a direct freekick shocked City into action, after early goals by Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards put Palace in the lead.

"The performance of Kevin, as he has done for many, many years in many, many games — he played fantastic," City manager Pep Guardiola said.

Arsenal 'not distracted'

Mikel Arteta insisted Arsenal wasn't distracted by its Champions League showdown with Real Madrid, after it stumbled to a 1-1 draw against Brentford, a result that all but ended its Premier League title challenge on Saturday.

Arteta's side needed a victory at the Emirates Stadium to retain its faint hopes of catching runaway leader Liverpool.

But, Thomas Partey's 61st-minute opener was canceled out by Yoane Wissa in the 74th minute.

Arsenal was not at its best, as it struggled to match the intensity that blew Real away in its 3-0 Champions League quarterfinal first-leg win on Tuesday.

With the second leg looming on Wednesday, it would have been understandable if Arsenal's players were distracted, but Arteta said that was not the case.

"The way the feeling was with the players, certainly not. To prepare well, you have to play as well as possible and win the next game," he said.

"We are disappointed with the result. We had full control of the game and conceded a very poor goal. It was not good enough, and when you don't do what you have to do against this team, you concede a goal.

"The attitude, if you see at the end, we have to play with 10 men and we had two big opportunities to score, you cannot say it is about energy.

"We play every three days and are used to it, so there is not an excuse of energy."

Arsenal has won just two of its last seven league games, effectively gift-wrapping the title for Liverpool, which could potentially be crowned champion as early as April 20, should results go its way.

With only six games left to play, time is not on Arsenal's side, something of which Arteta is acutely aware.

"It's an opportunity missed for sure, because we wanted to win and increase our opportunities in the league, but we haven't managed to do that," Arteta said.

"We have to be critical with ourselves, especially with the way we conceded the goal.

"Now, it is time to recover well, and tomorrow, we have to start to prepare for the most beautiful game of the season (against Madrid)."

Arteta might be without Jorginho at the Santiago Bernabeu after the Italy midfielder came off the field injured in the closing minutes against Brentford.

"I don't know. He said he could not breathe properly, so it might be to do with one of the ribs," Arteta said.

"It is strange, because Jorgi normally carries on, so that means it is something significant, I think."

Forest falters

Nottingham Forest's challenge for a Champions League place hit a speed bump with a 1-0 defeat to Everton.

Forest remains in third, but has lost its last two games, allowing the chasing pack to catch up.

A forgettable game at the City Ground appeared to be meandering toward a stalemate until Abdoulaye Doucoure struck in the 94th minute to secure Everton's first win in seven games.

Aston Villa closed to within three points of Forest and climbed into the top five, after Unai Emery's substitutes secured a 3-0 victory at already-relegated Southampton, despite Marco Asensio having two penalties saved by Aaron Ramsdale.

Ollie Watkins was again left on the bench by Emery, but made a stunning impact with a volley over Ramsdale from Youri Tielemans' dinked pass 17 minutes from time.

Donyell Malen then sealed the points with his third goal in as many league games.

Asensio's second spot-kick was saved in stoppage time, but John McGinn pounced on the rebound.

Leicester scored its first league goals since January to snap a nine-game losing run, but a 2-2 draw at Brighton still did little to help the Foxes' hopes of survival.

Agencies