Erling Haaland's double helped Manchester City defeat Tottenham 2-0 and move two points clear of Arsenal going into the final day of play.

At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, there was a low key atmosphere as both teams knew that a win would benefit their fierce rivals. Spurs needed to win to maintain their hopes of finishing in the top four, but Haaland's header from Kevin De Bruyne's cross after halftime gave City the lead.

After replacing Ederson, who reacted angrily when forced to leave the game after taking a punch to the head, City's substitute goalkeeper Stefan Ortega made crucial saves from Dejan Kulusevski and Heung-Min Son. However, Haaland clinched the victory from the penalty spot after Pedro Porro had fouled substitute Jeremy Doku.

Pep Guardiola's team will be champions for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year if they defeat West Ham at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Arsenal will need to win their match at home against Everton and hope for an unlikely error by City. This is City's eighth straight Premier League victory.

Player rankings for Tottenham are as follows:

 Maddison (7), Johnson (7), Son (6), Hojbjerg (5), Bentancur (5), Sarr (6), Vicario (7), Porro (5), Romero (6), Dragusin (7), Van de Ven (6),.

Moore (n/a), Skipp (6), Lo Celso (6), and Kulusevski (7) as substitutes.

man city player rating

Ederson(7), Walker(7), Akanji(7), Dias(7), Gvardiol(7), Rodri(7), Kovacic(7), De Bruyne (8), Silva(7), Foden(7), Haaland (8)

How Man City secured a crucial victory

Although there was little excitement among the home crowd, City rather than Spurs appeared listless in the first half. Ederson's tip of Rodrigo Bentancur's shot over the crossbar signaled the home team's will to attack.

Following a mistake by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, the visitors did go close shortly after when Guglielmo Vicario produced an incredible save from Phil Foden, but they lacked their customary fluidity in possession while also providing Spurs with confidence on the other end.

But after failing to take advantage of their openings, the hosts had to rely on some outstanding last-minute defending from Radu Dragusin and Micky van de Ven to deny City a hardly-deserved lead going into halftime. Dragusin even cleared a shot from Bernardo Silva.

City opened the scoring when they moved the ball to De Bruyne, whose low cross from the right side of the box was tucked in by the waiting Haaland.

The home crowd seized the chance to jeer their north London neighbors with cries of "are you watching, Arsenal?" However, Spurs had three opportunities to draw even, but Ortega saved City on two of those occasions and also made an outstanding one-on-one save against Son.

After Bentancur reacted similarly to being substituted for Kulusevski, Ederson became enraged when Romero accidentally clattered him after a cross. However, City maintained composure on the field, winning the match with a penalty kick from Haaland to move one step closer to winning the Premier League trophy.