Erling Haaland scored a vital winner 19 minutes from time as Manchester City edged past stubborn Brentford to move second on the Premier League table, one point behind Liverpool.
What looked set to be a night of frustration at Etihad Stadium for Pep Guardiola’s men turned into a moment of huge fortune.
Just two points separate the top three in a fascinating title race with Arsenal one point adrift of City with 13 games to go.
Haaland was keen to make amends for a frustrating night in front of goal as City were held 1-1 at home by Chelsea on Saturday.
But the Norwegian was made to wait until 19 minutes from time to break the deadlock when he raced onto Julian Alvarez’s pass to slot in his 22nd goal of the season.
Pep Guardiola left Kevin De Bruyne on the bench for the entire match as he manages the Belgian’s minutes after he missed the first five months of the season due to a hamstring injury.
De Bruyne’s ingenuity was missed as City struggled to make their domination count despite enjoying nearly 70 per cent possession and having 25 shots on goal.
The Bees were the last visiting side to win at the Etihad 14 months ago and had their chances to spring another huge surprise.
Frank Onyeka failed to beat Ederson one-on-one midway through the first half before Ivan Toney sent a dipping free-kick inches over the bar.
The vast majority of goalmouth action was coming at the other end, though, as Mark Flekken kept Brentford in the game.
Flekken was stretched into fine stops from Manuel Akanji and twice from Ruben Dias.
Oscar Bobb came closest to opening the scoring in the first half, on a rare start for the Norwegian youngster, when his effort was cleared off the line by Ben Mee.
