Manchester City restored their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League thanks to a goal in the dying seconds by Raheem Sterling that sealed a dramatic 2-1 home win over Southampton.
A Kevin De Bruyne free-kick, diverted into his own net by Virgil van Dijk, had looked likely to be enough to give Pep Guardiola’s side a 12th league win in a row until Oriol Romeu snatched an equaliser 15 minutes from time.
But Sterling curled home a sublime winner as the game crept into the sixth minute of injury time to give the hosts a 12th league win in a row and maintain their charge towards the title.
City battled back from a goal down to beat Huddersfield Town, Sterling again scoring the winner, last time out and they could easily have found themselves behind in the first half at the Etihad Stadium against a Saints side buoyed by their 4-1 win over Everton.
Wesley Hoedt and Maya Yoshida missed clear opportunities to punish the home side for a sloppy opening period, with goalkeeper Fraser Forster equal to anything City were able to produce.
That was until the 47th minute, when De Bruyne’s goal-bound delivery was deflected in at the near post by Van Dijk, allowing the home fans to breathe a little more easily.
The home side failed to add to the goal and were punished in the closing stages by Romeu’s clinical finish, but Sterling struck to deny Saints a valuable point and frustrate title rivals Manchester United, who looked set to make up ground on City.
A surprisingly slack start from City should have been punished 14 minutes in, with Hoedt only able to head against the crossbar from inside the six-yard box after Ryan Bertrand’s corner was flicked on by Yoshida.
City broke swiftly and twice tested Forster, with Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus denied by the England international, who then made a flying stop to claw away a Fernandinho effort after Mario Lemina was dispossessed in his own half.
Ilkay Gundogan then missed City’s best chance of the half, scuffing a half-volley into the turf and behind for a goal kick after Forster had saved from Sergio Aguero, but the home side continued to look subdued and Yoshida missed a clear opportunity to punish them before the break, prodding an effort over the bar from point-blank range after Van Dijk’s downward header.
Saints were made to rue those misses in the first two minutes of the second half. De Bruyne whipped in a low free-kick from the left of the penalty area and the ball was turned into his own net by Van Dijk, who was under pressure from Aguero.
Jesus was then thwarted by Fraser when through one-on-one and the Saints keeper made a flying save to keep out a De Bruyne strike from 25 yards out, with City apparently keen to press their advantage and kill off any hope of a comeback from the visitors.
Aguero missed a free header from another De Bruyne delivery before Van Dijk spurned the chance to equalise, nodding another dangerous corner over the crossbar from six yards out.
However, just as the game looked to be getting away from the visitors, they snatched their equaliser. A deep cross from Bertrand was controlled expertly by substitute Sofiane Boufal and, when he picked out Romeu from the byline, the midfielder made no mistake in smashing high past Ederson.
City poured forward and their pressure told seconds after the allotted five minutes of injury time, Sterling bending a stunning strike into the top-left corner from the edge of the area to deal a blow to United and the chasing pack in the title race.
Meanwhile, Mesut Ozil produced a major second-half contribution as substitute Olivier Giroud scored twice in Arsenal’s 5-0 Premier League victory at home to Huddersfield Town on Wednesday.
It was the Gunners’ seventh win out of seven at the Emirates Stadium in the league this season and Ozil was influential with two assists and a goal in a four-minute period as the Gunners remained in the top four.
Alexandre Lacazette gave Arsenal an early lead before Ozil set up Giroud and Alexis Sanchez before scoring himself. Giroud then added a late fifth goal.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger played arguably his strongest side, with Ozil returning alongside Lacazette and Sanchez.
But in this first meeting between these two sides since January 1972, Huddersfield manager David Wagner made six changes to his starting XI.
It was a decision that appeared to backfire when Arsenal went ahead as early as the third minute when a superb move resulted in Lacazette’s seventh goal for Arsenal and fifth at the Emirates.
Granit Xhaka’s pass was flicked into the path of the Frenchman by Aaron Ramsey and he produced an expert left-footed finish to leave Jonas Lossl with no chance.
The hosts could have extended their lead as Ramsey shot over when well placed but at the other end Mathias Jorgensen headed over the bar from Chris Lowe’s free-kick.
Lacazette continued to put Huddersfield under major pressure and he was unfortunate not to make it two when his shot from the angle was cleared off the line by Martin Cranie, Sead Kolasinac unable to get a proper connection on the rebound.
Wenger’s side had been dominant but they may have gone in at the break all square at 1-1.
Shkodran Mustafi tangled with Steve Mounie in the penalty area but no penalty was awarded while Collin Quaner was unable to get a shot away after Laurent Koscielny recovered after the Huddersfield striker had appeared to go through on goal.
Lacazette failed to re-appear for the start of the second half, with Giroud coming on in his place.
Ozil saw his shot deflected harmlessly after good play by Sanchez down the left but at the other end Quaner was only denied by the feet of Petr Cech after a determined run into the area.
The game was becoming an open one and it took a last-ditch Christopher Schlindler block to deny Giroud and shortly afterwards Cech was fortunate to see his punch hit the bar after Mounie had caused problems in the area.
Arsenal should have finished the game off when Giroud rounded Lossl from Ramsey’s pass but he hit the post and then fired the rebound into the side netting.
A few nerves started to creep in around the Emirates but it was Ozil who responded with a brilliant contribution with two assists and a goal in four minutes.
First he exchanged passes with Sanchez before setting up Giroud who could not miss in the 68th minute. Just a minute later and Ozil’s cross from the right was volleyed home by Sanchez.
Wenger had said on the eve of this game that the pair would remain at Arsenal for the rest of the season and they responded to the veteran manager’s comments in the best way possible.
Ozil scored a well-deserved goal in the 72nd minute as he finished in cool fashion following a slide-rule pass by Ramsey.
With Huddersfield well beaten by this stage, Giroud went on to get his second goal of the night three minutes from time as he pounced on a loose ball after Kolasinac had run into the box.
