Manchester City defeated Aston Villa 3-1 on Sunday to overcome the uncertainty brought on by a string of Premier League victories and pull within three points of Arsenal at the top of the standings.
The English champions are under scrutiny after the Premier League filed more than 100 charges against the team for allegedly breaking financial regulations as far back as 2009.
In the event of a conviction, City could lose a lot of ground in the standings or even be demoted.
Pep Guardiola, the manager of City, came out swinging in defense of the club’s hierarchy, blaming the accusations on envious Premier League rivals, and his players did the same by putting on a defiant display on the field.
Before the break at the Etihad, Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan, and Riyad Mahrez all scored to put Manchester City in a commanding position over Arsenal ahead of their matchup on Wednesday.
Arsenal still has a game left to play, but City will now take over first place if they triumph at the Emirates in midweek.
The Gunners’ 1-1 draw against Brentford at home on Saturday provided the opening for City, who did not fumble it like they did last weekend when they had the chance to capitalize but lost to Tottenham on the road.
Guardiola also learned his lesson from an experimental line-up at Spurs.
Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne and Gundogan were restored to the starting line-up and City looked much more like their old selves.
The City support made their feelings known before kick-off as the Premier League anthem was booed and a banner raised saluting the lawyer the club have hired to defend the charges.
Just four minutes in they had something to cheer as Rodri rose highest to power home a header from Mahrez’s corner.
Jack Grealish was in the mood to do some damage against his former club and only a brilliant finger-tip save from Emiliano Martinez denied the England international from finding the top corner.
Much was made of City’s reluctance to hit Erling Haaland early in a feeble surrender to Spurs last weekend and the Norwegian was a far more persistent threat in behind the Villa defence.
Haaland created the second as his pace beat Martinez to De Bruyne’s ball over the top and he picked out Gundogan at the far post for a simple finish.
Grealish then lured Jacob Ramsey into a clumsy challenge to win a penalty, which Mahrez slotted home as Haaland surprisingly stepped aside.
That decision was perhaps explained by Haaland’s withdrawal at half-time as he appeared to be nursing a thigh issue, which will be a concern for Guardiola.
So too will be his side’s defensive record as another clean sheet was spoiled when Douglas Luiz robbed Bernardo Silva and freed Ollie Watkins to fire into the far corner on the hour mark.
Villa substitute Jhon Duran then smashed against the bar in stoppage time, but a second-half rally was too little, too late for Unai Emery’s men.
