Manchester City have beaten sloppy Newcastle United 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in their early kickoff match to provisionally reduce Arsenal’s lead on the Premier League standings to just two points.

Fresh from last week’s defeat to City’s arch rivals, Manchester United in the Carabao Cup final, Newcastle, who were on a four-game winless run, needed to turn the situation around in their bid for European football next season.

However, one goal in each half for City further added to their woes as they remained fifth on the table and could further drop down if Liverpool win their fixture against Man United on Sunday.

England international, Phil Foden, opened the scoring for City in the 15th when he glided past five Newcastle United players as his effort was able to find the back of the net, thanks to a slight deflection off Sven Botman’s leg.

In the cusp of the first half, Callum Wilson was unable to equalise for the visitors after a poor touch meant that the England international bottled Kieran Tripper’s header cross as the game went into halftime.

In the 63rd minute, the introduction of Saint-Maximum, Joseph Willock and Alexander Isak brought City to their edge, with Newcastle coming close to scoring twice within two minutes but Joelinton failed to put a cross into the net while Isak’s effort was saved by Ederson.

Newcastle United’s hope of coming back into the game was shattered in the 67th minute when Portuguese midfielder, Bernardo Silva, powered Erling Haaland’s clever flick past Nick Pope to seal the victory for the reigning champions.

City, who have now won their last 14 Premier League home matches against Newcastle, now tied with Everton (14 vs Fulham) for the longest home win against an opponent in the competition.