LEEDS, England: Manchester City kept the pressure firmly on Premier League leaders Arsenal with a nervy 1-0 victory at Leeds United on Saturday, pulling within two points of top spot courtesy of Antoine Semenyo’s strike on the stroke of halftime.
City, who were without league-leading scorer Erling Haaland, were made to work at Elland Road, but the victory took Pep Guardiola’s side to 59 points. Arsenal, who have also played 28 games, host Chelsea on Sunday as the title race tightens.
Leeds had the better first-half chances, including a couple of near-misses by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, before Semenyo scored his sixth goal for City in first-half injury time.
Rayan Ait-Nouri was sent through on the left side of the box and Semenyo slid to touch home his square ball from close range.
“It means everything,” Semenyo told Sky Sports on cutting ⁠the gap to ⁠two points. “I think we just want to win all our games and whatever Arsenal do we just have to wait and see.
“We just need to control what we can control, win our games, and yeah, we’ll see what happens. But we’re all happy.”
Second-placed City’s win was their fifth in six league games, and eighth out of nine in all competitions.
Asked if City are hitting their stride toward a title run, Guardiola said: “One game at a time. Now we start a real season with many, many games. ⁠People are tired.
“You play teams who are down or playing for Europe. The Premier League is more competitive than ever.
“It is important that we qualify for the Champions League. We take a little gap from the other teams (below them). This step is massively important.”
City are 11 points clear of fourth-placed Manchester United, who play on Sunday, and Liverpool in fifth spot.
Haaland missed the Leeds match with what Guardiola called a “little injury” in training this week. Rayan Cherki started in his place.

LEEDS MANAGER FARKE SHOWN RED CARD
Leeds boss Daniel Farke made a beeline for the referee after the final whistle and was quickly shown a red card.
“I had a short chat with him,” assistant manager Edmund Riemer told Sky. “There were incidents, there was time wasting. They got a yellow card in added time. ⁠Six minutes.
“You are emotional ⁠and then he ran on the pitch and he got a red card, I think for what he said. Perhaps it was too aggressive.”
Buoyed by recent draws with Chelsea and Aston Villa, Leeds were on the front foot from the start and Calvert-Lewin missed a gilt-edged chance when he inexplicably fired wide and sent another shot from a tight angle trickling past the far post.
City settled into the game and started dominating possession before Semenyo’s goal.
Leeds kicked off the second half with the same energy as they did the first and Calvert-Lewin latched onto a ball from Anton Stach only for Matheus Nunes to charge in and clear it.
Marc Guehi nearly doubled City’s lead late in the game but his header was clawed out by Welsh goalkeeper Karl Darlow.
Leeds kept pressing and Jaka Bijol headed a corner just wide in the dying minutes as Farke held his head in disbelief.
His team are in 15th place with 31 points from 28 games, six points above the relegation zone.