Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne. Photo: Photosport
Manchester City moved back into the top four with a 5-2 comeback victory over visiting Crystal Palace on the back of Kevin De Bruyne's inspired performance while Nottingham Forest failed to consolidate third place after a 1-0 home defeat by Everton.
Aston Villa beat relegated Southampton 3-0 away, while Brighton & Hove Albion were held 2-2 at home by Leicester City, who scored a league goal for the first time since January.
The results leave Forest in third on 57 points, two points clear of City and a further point ahead of Villa in fifth. Sixth-placed Chelsea, who have 53, host Ipswich Town on Sunday.
City were 2-0 down inside 21 minutes when Eberechi Eze grabbed the opener after Palace carved open the home side's defence before Chris Richards scored from a set-piece.
But De Bruyne halved the deficit with a free kick before his cushioned header found its way to Omar Marmoush, who blasted the ball into the net after Ilkay Gundogan missed.
City dominated the second half and De Bruyne assisted Mateo Kovacic for the third goal 80 seconds after the restart.
Goalkeeper Ederson then claimed his fourth assist of the season when he set James McAtee on his way with a long ball while Nico O'Reilly completed the rout.
"I want to go away with a Champions League (spot) for this team because they deserve it," said Belgian De Bruyne, who is leaving the club at the end of the season.
"We've been in the Champions League for the nine, ten years that I've been here so I hope we can do that for the team next year."
Forest welcomed the return from injury of striker Chris Wood, who injured his hip during New Zealand's win over New Caledonia in the Oceania World Cup qualifying win three weeks ago.
Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood. Photo: photosport
However, Wood's side struggled to get going against Everton, who stunned the fans at The City Ground when Abdoulaye Doucoure scored the only goal in added time.
Forest had a corner which was cleared and as Everton ran up the other end, Dwight McNeil found Doucoure who netted to give the visitors their first win in seven games.
"I think we can't have it better than that, when you play a football game, to score a last-minute goal. It was a terrific moment for the team," Doucoure said.
Leicester score
Leicester City, who are on the verge of relegation, gave their fans reason to cheer when they finally scored in a 2-2 draw at Brighton.
Joao Pedro gave the hosts the lead with a penalty in the 31st after a Conor Coady handball but Leicester equalised seven minutes later when Stephy Mavididi scored the club's first goal in nine league games.
As he squeezed his shot past Bart Verbruggen, it ended Leicester's run of nearly 800 minutes without finding the net.
But the visitors conceded another penalty just after the break when Luke Thomas tugged Matt O'Riley's shirt and Pedro stepped up again to make it 2-1 with his 10th goal this season.
However, Caleb Okoli levelled with a header from a free kick to give Leicester a rare point.
Villa beat Southampton to move up to fifth but the south-coast club kept the visitors at bay for long periods until Ollie Watkins and Donyell Malen came on in the second half.
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins. Photo: Photosport
Villa won a penalty when Jan Bednarek took down Watkins but Aaron Ramsdale denied Marco Asensio from the spot.
However, Villa would not be denied and four minutes later, Youri Tielemans launched a long ball into the box where Watkins poked his leg out to chip the ball over Ramsdale.
"A lot of teams battling for a top four finish but sometimes you need that bit of luck and a bit of magic ... That's one of my favourites," Watkins said.
Six minutes later, Morgan Rogers found Donyell Malen making a run into the box and the Dutch forward fired his shot into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.
Asensio had another opportunity from the spot and remarkably Ramsdale saved his second effort as well, but this time John McGinn was on hand to follow up and score from the rebound.
- Reuters
