Antoine Semenyo’s first-half goal sealed Manchester City a hard-fought 1-0 win at Leeds United and lifted his side to within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Semenyo maintained his impressive goalscoring form since joining City from Bournemouth in January, clinically converting a rare chance for the visitors in stoppage time before the interval.
City’s fourth straight league win kept the pressure on Arsenal before their home game against derby rivals Chelsea on Sunday.
“We just need to control what we can control,” Semenyo said, “win our games and see what happens.”
Leeds, meanwhile, were left to rue a string of missed first-half chances.
Daniel Farke’s relegation battlers lost for just the third time in 15 league matches, suffering a rare defeat under the Elland Road floodlights, to stay six points above the bottom three.
Leading Premier League goalscorer Erling Haaland was not included in City’s squad after sustaining a minor injury in training, missing out against his boyhood club.
Haaland’s replacement Rayan Cherki was City’s only change following last week’s home win against Newcastle, while Leeds were unchanged after their 1-1 draw at Aston Villa.
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Leeds’ survival fight has gained momentum since Phil Foden’s stoppage-time winner in the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium in November, with only two defeats in their following 14 league matches.
And they should have taken an early lead when Dominic Calvert-Lewin steered Brenden Aaronson’s excellent cross wide from in front of goal in the third minute.
Play was temporarily halted by referee Peter Bankes in the 11th minute to allow City’s Muslim players to break their Ramadan fast before Calvert-Lewin prodded narrowly off-target again, this time from a tight angle.
City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma held James Justin’s shot and Aaronson was next to fire just wide, from Jayden Bogle’s cross, as Leeds’ intense press won them plenty of possession high up the field.
The visitors began to hold onto possession and mount pressure of their own 15 minutes before half-time.
But only after Aaronson had been denied by Donnarumma in a one-on-one following a swift Leeds counter-attack did City create their first noteworthy chance, with Nico O’Reilly’s header well saved by Karl Darlow.
City took the lead in first-half stoppage time. Rayan Aït-Nouri raced clear down the left on to Cherki’s superb through-ball and crossed for Semenyo to convert his sixth City goal in 11 appearances in all competitions from four yards.
Leeds made another fast start to the second period as Matheus Nunes’ last-ditch block thwarted Calvert-Lewin in the box, but City maintained their composure and were soon back in their rhythm.
Darlow’s flying save kept out Marc Guehi’s header and it was mainly one-way traffic, with Leeds working tirelessly to prevent City carving out clear chances.
Leeds lifted the home fans with a late flurry and substitute Jaka Bijol headed inches wide, but City held on to notch their 18th league win of the season.
PA and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
