{"id":502217,"date":"2026-05-13T22:35:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T22:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=502217"},"modified":"2026-05-14T00:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:25:17","slug":"stunning-backheel-keeps-title-heat-on-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=502217","title":{"rendered":"Stunning backheel keeps title heat on Arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal<\/a> can't \ufeffstart popping champagne bottles just yet.<\/p>\n

Manchester City<\/a> kept the heat on the Premier League leaders with a comfortable 3-0 win over Crystal Palace on Thursday (AEST).<\/a><\/p>\n

Man of the match Phil Foden was the provider for the first two goals.<\/p>\n

Football's<\/strong><\/em> new home, Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, is the only place to watch the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, WSL, European World Cup qualifiers, J.League, NSWL and K League<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

Not assured of his place in England's World Cup<\/a> squad, this was the perfect stage for Foden to remind manager Thomas Tuchel of his high level creative qualities.<\/p>\n

His \ufeff32nd minute backheel was an absolute beauty to put Antoine Semenyo through on goal.<\/p>\n

Foden's volleyed assist eight minutes later then gave Omar Marmoush the space to double the home team's lead in Manchester.\ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Dozen dominoes to fall after shock Ivan Cleary news<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Omar<\/p>\n

Substitute Savinho completed the rout after Rayan Cherki was allowed to make a long run and judge his short pass to the Brazilian in the 84th minute.<\/p>\n

The result leaves City two points behind Arsenal with two games to play.<\/p>\n

No other teams can win the title.\ufeff<\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/added-time\/var-you-kidding-me-more-controversy-in-the-premier-league\/embed?style=Cover&media=Audio&size=Wide<\/a><\/p>\n

Former City defender Joleon Lescott was \ufefffulsome in his praise for Foden.<\/p>\n

"Sensational performance, full of confidence, full of unique ability shown from him and I'm really pleased for him," Lescott said.<\/p>\n

"I know how much he genuinely cares about football. He loves Man City, but he's obsessed with the game, and that bit of skill (backheel) – not sure that many players could have played that facing the goal.<\/p>\n

\"Phil<\/p>\n

"With the weight of pass, and he's done that with the heel of his foot. Unique."<\/p>\n

Fellow pundit Owen Hargreaves said the Foden backheel reminded him of his former Manchester United teammate Paul Scholes.<\/p>\n

"Standing still, checking your shoulder, allows you to know where everybody is," Hargreaves said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/2054663157948539032?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

"Time and space, sits in that little pocket, but the execution of this, I mean, there's backspin on it. Looks over his right (shoulder) and then his left, I mean it's just fabulous. In an era now where players are overcoached, this is just off the cuff.<\/p>\n

"It's feel, and you've got to trust these guys to just play."<\/p>\n

City also play Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Sunday (12am kick off AEST) and manager Pep Guardiola had the luxury of leaving star striker Erling Haaland on the bench as an unused substitute.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/2054562557831393431?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

"When the schedule is so tight everybody is fit, everybody needs to help," Guardiola explained.<\/p>\n

"The manager is here to take a risk. We have to take the decisions before and after it depends on the result. We will be judged nicely or completely the opposite. You have to take it.<\/p>\n

"I trust them otherwise we wouldn't be here. We have today and in three days travel to London. Our opponents are waiting just for that game and don't have to travel, then we have to travel to Bournemouth – one of the top form teams.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/2054667024660644252?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

"Everyone has to play these three games."<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta's team plays relegated Burnley on Tuesday (AEST) and a victory would leave City needing to beat Bournemouth 24 hours later to take the title race into the final day of the season.<\/p>\n

"We have to keep pushing and keep them on their toes. We've seen a lot of things can happen on the final day," Foden said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/2054676917723279650?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

"I've experienced it many times when the game doesn't go your way, so we just have to keep pushing and doing our part."<\/p>\n

The size of City's win could yet be significant as it moved one ahead of Arsenal on goal difference.<\/p>\n

Guardiola is targeting his seventh league title at City.<\/p>\n

\"Manchester<\/p>\n

He has never gone back-to-back seasons without winning a league title in his entire coaching career at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City.<\/p>\n

"Unfortunately it's not in our hands," Guardiola said.<\/p>\n

"It's not easy, but it's important that we are there. This group of players are all extraordinary."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/2054487060115771405?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

Lescott, who played 107 games for City, said Arsenal fans should be nervous.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The Gunners last won the league title in 2004 under Arsene Wenger when the 'Invincibles' went \ufeffunbeaten in 38 games.<\/p>\n

"It's very exciting. If you talk about stats and odds they are all in Arsenal's favour. But it's not over yet," Lescott said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/2054456860791497203?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

"Twists and turns, it was a good professional performance from Man City today. They did what they needed to do."<\/p>\n

Palace, meanwhile, didn't fire many shots and remain 15th of 20 teams as a disappointing campaign winds down.<\/p>\n

Palace are farewelling manager Oliver Glasner at the end of the season.\ufeff<\/p>\n

– with AP<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal can't \ufeffstart popping champagne bottles just yet. Manchester City kept the heat on the Premier League leaders with a comfortable 3-0 win over Crystal […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":502222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502217"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=502217"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502229,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502217\/revisions\/502229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/502222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=502217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=502217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=502217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}