Arsenal survived a huge scare after Leandro Trossard's goal kept the Premier League title race firmly in their hands in a tense 1-0 win at West Ham on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola's rallying cry of "come on you Irons" on Saturday seemed to do the trick after West Ham striker Callum Wilson's stoppage-time goal almost did Manchester City a huge favor.
But after an agonizing VAR check, the equalizer was ruled out by ref Chris Kavanagh for a foul on West Ham forward Pablo, who grabbed Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya during the play.
Trossard had struck eight minutes from full time to keep Arsenal five points clear of their rivals and on the brink of their first title in 22 years.
Despite winning on their past two visits to the London Stadium by an aggregate score of 11-2, this looked like, and may well prove to be, Arsenal's trickiest assignment of their three remaining games.
Now, all that stands between them and the title is a visit from relegated Burnley and a trip to a Crystal Palace side who will be focused on their Conference League final date with Rayo Vallecano three days later.
For West Ham, the contrast could not be starker. The "celebration police" will not be required in east London this season.
Needing a win to climb out of the relegation zone, they will instead find themselves four points adrift of Tottenham -- who will be uncharacteristically reveling in an Arsenal victory -- with two matches left, if the north Londoners beat Leeds on Monday night.
West Ham's' recent revival under Nuno Espirito Santo began too late and, following back-to-back defeats, is now fizzling out too early.
West Ham were almost caught out straight away by a corner when Trossard had one header parried by Mads Hermansen and saw a second come back off a post.
The hosts were creaking, yet they somehow escaped after Riccardo Calafiori flicked Declan Rice's free-kick towards goal, with Konstantinos Mavropanos clearing off the line and El Hadji Malick Diouf and Taty Castellanos smuggling the loose ball away.
The Gunners lost Ben White to an injury, which could be a concern with the Champions League final less than three weeks away, and curiously, Rice went out to right back with Martín Zubimendi sent on.
The tweaks briefly handed the initiative to West Ham. Without his old midfield teammate Rice running things, Tomás Soucek began snapping into tackles, and the hosts almost nicked the lead before halftime when Aaron Wan-Bissaka broke and crossed to Castellanos, whose diving header was superbly kept out by Raya.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta rectified matters at the break with former Hammers favorite Rice back in situ, Piero Hincapié on at right back and Myles Lewis-Skelly moving to left back.
Bukayo Saka skied a couple of long-range attempts, but Arteta's frustration was growing, and he hauled off Martín Zubimendi and Eberechi Eze for Martin Ødegaard and Kai Havertz.
West Ham survived a penalty appeal after Pablo Felipe fell on the ball from another Rice free kick, and Viktor Gyökeres headed a presentable chance over.
Yet Ødegaard had wrested control back for Arsenal and created the winner, dancing into the area before laying the ball back for Trossard to drill home and put the Gunners one step closer to glory.
