MANCHESTER, England -- Pep Guardiola regards Mikel Arteta as one of his closest friends in football, but the Manchester City manager is showing no mercy to his Arsenal counterpart. If Arteta wants to win the Premier League title, Guardiola is making him earn it.
Even though he chose to start with Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki on the substitutes' bench in Wednesday's game against Crystal Palace -- all three were rested ahead of Saturday's FA Cup final against Chelsea -- Guardiola still had enough firepower for his team to seal a 3-0 win against Oliver Glasner's team.
City are still two points behind the Gunners, with each side having just two games left to play in the final week of the season, but this victory means they are ready and waiting to pounce if Arsenal fail to win their remaining fixtures.
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It's a simple equation for Arsenal. Win their remaining games at home to Burnley next Monday and away at Palace on the final day of the season and there is nothing that City can do about it.
Two more wins and Arteta will deliver Arsenal's first league title since 2004 and tee up the prospect of the club's best season, which it would achieve by winning Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest, Hungary, on May 30.
But if Arsenal were hoping for some breathing space in their title pursuit, even the chance to wrap it up against already-relegated Burnley next week, City denied them that luxury by beating Palace at the Etihad Stadium.
Their winning margin gives City the narrowest possible advantage in terms of goal difference over Arsenal. It could have been more, maybe should have been more, with City trying to find a fourth goal in the closing stages. But at this point of a season, every goal counts, and City's slight goal-difference lead means that any Arsenal slip could send the Premier League trophy back to the Etihad for the seventh time in 10 years.
Pep Guardiola and Manchester City kept the pressure on Arsenal with their convincing 3-0 win over Crystal Palace. Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images City know that all they can do now is make Arsenal feel the heat and turn the screw psychologically.
"The aim is to keep pushing and keep them on their toes," City midfielder Phil Foden said. "We've seen a lot of things can happen on the final day.