PEP GUARDIOLA has vowed Manchester City will keep ‘breathing down Arsenal’s neck’ after their crazy late comeback win at Liverpool.
City were staring at a nine-point title deficit when Dominik Szoboszlai scored a stunning free-kick.
But Bernardo Silva levelled with six minutes left and Erling Haaland’s last-gasp penalty put City ahead.
Then, in a chaotic finish, Gianluigi Donnarumma acrobatically denied Reds ace Alexis Mac Allister before City saw a comical third ruled out.
Rayan Cherki rolled the ball into an empty net from his OWN half with keeper Alisson upfield — but VAR controversially intervened after Szoboszlai and Haaland had been pulling each other’s shirts chasing it.
Szoboszlai saw red for an initial foul on Haaland and the goal was chalked off as the City striker then stopped his rival clearing the ball.
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City are six points behind the Gunners and can cut their Prem lead by beating Fulham on Wednesday.
Boss Guardiola said: “All we can now do is breathe down the neck of Arsenal and be there. If they sleep, if they make a mistake, then we have to use it.
“It’s a big gap but many things can still happen. It’s 13 games in the Premier League — from my little bit of experience that is a lot of time, a lot. It’s proper.”
Captain Bernardo, who started the fightback, felt the Etihad giants had to deliver yesterday to keep their Premier League title hopes alive.
He said: “The whole squad knew before the game that if we lost, probably the title race is over.
“Arsenal are still in a much better position than us but we felt like we needed to win this game.
“This now puts us a bit closer, the hope is there . . .”
City had won only three of their last 53 games in front of the Kop and it looked like the same old story when they fell behind in the 74th minute.
But they staged a stirring late fightback to claim a first league double over the Reds in 89 YEARS.
Haaland’s penalty was the latest-ever winning goal from a visiting team on record in the Premier League at Anfield.
And relieved City chief Guardiola added: “We’ve won – we finally won at Anfield.
“We just need victories like this as we have many good things to fight for – the title, Champions League and Carabao Cup.
“Maybe we still are not totally ready.
“Maybe in one month we will be ready because we’ll have some players back.
“This is an incredibly tough place to come, so I’m really proud.”
On City’s disallowed third, Guardiola joked: “Come on referee, give the goal, don’t give the red card. Use common sense sometimes — it should be easy.”
Haaland, who ended his Anfield duck for City having failed to score in three previous trips, said: “First of all, Cherki just pass the ball and I score.
“Secondly, he pulls me and then I pull him and we score, so just give the goal and no red card.
“I said to the ref, ‘Just give the goal’. It’s what everyone wanted and I hope he only gets a maximum of one game.
“I know you need to follow the rules but, for me, just use common sense.”
Haaland’s late spot-kick was his first Prem goal for a month — and the Norwegian was feeling the pressure.
He added: “It just had to go in. I hadn’t scored at Anfield but I managed to score now so it’s an amazing feeling and I was pretty nervous.
“The people around me know I am nervous. My missus knows I’m nervous and my father knows I’m nervous!
“But the rest of the people think that I am calm, which is good.
“It is not a bad thing to be nervous. It just makes you more sharp in the head, which is good.”
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