Wednesday saw Liverpool defeat Fulham 1-0 while Manchester City defeated West Ham 3-0 to retake the lead in the standings. Erling Haaland established a new record of 35 goals in a Premier League season.
An undermanned Hammers forced City to work hard in order to pull one point ahead of Arsenal in the battle for the championship with one game remaining.
Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek, and Nayef Aguerd, all of whom are internationals for England, were out for the visitors due to sickness, while David Moyes could only choose five outfield replacements due to injury.
But Moyes' team struggled at the Etihad for 50 minutes before giving up, keeping them firmly entrenched in the relegation fight.
In an unlikely move, Nathan Ake scored the game's first goal, rising highest to head in a free kick from Riyad Mahrez.
The scorer of City's second goal, though, was not a surprise as Haaland pounced on a pass from Jack Grealish and skillfully dinked the ball over an oncoming Lukasz Fabianski.
The record of 34 established by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole for Blackburn and Newcastle, respectively, in the 1990s was surpassed by the Norwegian.
After the game had ended, Haaland was given a guard of honor by his teammates as he left the field.
He will still fall short of Dixie Dean of Everton's 60 goals scored during the 1927–1928 English Premier League season, the all-time record holder.
Five minutes from time, Phil Foden, who had just entered the game, added the finishing touch when his brilliantly placed volley bounced off Emerson Palmieri and caught Fabianski off guard.
With their 13th straight victory at home in 2023, Pep Guardiola's team is one step closer to winning the Premier League five times in six years.
To prevent Arsenal from winning their first championship in 19 years, the champions just need four victories out of their last five games.
With four games remaining and a loss, West Ham is still four points above the drop zone.
At Anfield, Liverpool maintained pressure on Newcastle and Manchester United for the remaining two spots in the Champions League behind City and Arsenal by refusing to give up the battle for a top-four finish.
For the first time this season, Jurgen Klopp's team has won five straight league games.
The difference between the teams came from Mohamed Salah's 29th goal of the season, which the Egyptian converted from the penalty spot after Darwin Nunez was fouled by Issa Diop six minutes before halftime.
Liverpool is just four points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, which still has two games remaining in the season.
