Jack Grealish grabs Thomas Partey as Arsenal and City stars have to be separated

Jack Grealish and Thomas Partey had to be separated as things boiled over towards the end of Manchester City's 4-1 win over Arsenal.

The pair came to blows in the closing stages of the crunch clash at the Etihad, which saw City take a huge step towards the Premier League title. A double from Kevin De Bruyne, plus efforts from John Stones and Erling Haaland, saw Pep Guardiola's side bag all three points at the expense of the Gunners, who got on the scoresheet through Rob Holding.

But before the hosts could celebrate a title-affirming victory, Grealish and Partey came to blows off the ball in the middle of the park.

READ MORE: Rob Holding labelled 'Harry Maguire of Arsenal' with Gunners fans raging at defender

The skirmish was caused by Grealish slamming into Partey after the ball had been played. Partey retaliated by steaming into the former Aston Villa man, who grabbed him by the shirt and the collar.

That sparked a melee involving both sets of players as words were exchanged between the two men. Eventually the situation calmed down with the help of referee Michael Oliver.

Arsenal pulled a goal back through Holding ten minutes after the incident, before Haaling put the icing on the cake for City with a well deserved fourth goal in injury time.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta spoke to the media after the game and discussed what his out-of-form side now need to do if they're to somehow overhaul City at the top.

"I don’t know what is going to be required. For sure we have to lift the players up first because they suffered tonight. We need to do everything that we’ve done so far so well and start winning," he said.

Adding: The stats at the start of the season said we’d finish sixth or seventh and we are where we are. There’s still five games to go. I’ve been in this country 22 years and things change a lot. They’re an exceptional team but we are an exceptional team as well."

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