Manchester City defeated Arsenal 4-1 on Wednesday to regain control of the Premier League championship chase behind two goals from Kevin de Bruyne.
Although the reigning champions are still in second place, Arsenal's advantage has been reduced to two points since City has two games left to play.
For manager Pep Guardiola, who has won the FA Cup and the Champions League twice before, a third league championship in as many years is now within reach.
In a contest that always seemed likely to have a significant impact on deciding who would win the championship, Arsenal proved to be no match for City.
Since De Bruyne's goal at the Etihad Stadium in the seventh minute, Mikel Arteta's squad has been in the lead for the most of the season.
Until John Stones headed in a second goal for City in stoppage time of the first half, Aaron Ramsdale made a number of excellent saves to keep Arsenal in the game.
When De Bruyne scored his second goal of the game nine minutes into the second half, all dreams of an impossible comeback were dashed.
In the 86th minute, Rob Holding gave Arsenal a goal back, but it was too late to save the defeat.
In stoppage time, Erling Haaland made it 4-1 to seal the victory.
This victory extends City's winning streak over the Londoners to eight games and marks the third time this season that it has defeated Arsenal, including in the FA Cup.
Even though nothing has been decided, Arsenal needed to win the match to guarantee that it maintained control of the championship race after a recent downturn gave City the upper hand.
The club's prospects of winning its first championship in 19 years had been severely damaged by three consecutive draws against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton.
City, on the other hand, was in its finest form of the season and coming off a 16-game undefeated streak in all competitions.
From the beginning, it was clear that the squad was filled with confidence.
After dominating the first 45 minutes, it should have been much farther ahead at halftime, leading 2-0.
Prior to De Bruyne's quick breakaway goal, City had two early penalty appeals. This was a hint of things to come.
Just within Arsenal's half, Haaland stopped Stones' long clearing, and the Norwegian subsequently passed to De Bruyne. From around 20 metres out, the Belgian playmaker sprinted forward and blasted a low shot beyond Ramsdale.
With another breakaway, De Bruyne was poised to increase City's advantage, but Ben White's last-ditch tackle stopped him this time.
As Arsenal moved towards the half with City still pressing, they were only down by one goal. Haaland had three of his attempts blocked by Ramsdale.
However, the visitors' defence was overcome in the last seconds of the first half when Stones headed in a free kick from De Bruyne. The goal was first disallowed for offside, but VAR overturned the decision.
Within the first ten minutes of the second half, De Bruyne scored his second goal after being set up once again by Haaland, sneaking a close-range effort past Ramsdale.
Holding scored a consolation goal for Arsenal after the match was essentially finished.
But in injury time, Haaland scored his 49th goal of the year to reaffirm City's dominance.
