Erling Haaland scored twice to settle Manchester City's nerves as the Premier League champions beat Tottenham 2-0 to take a giant step towards a historic fourth consecutive English title on Tuesday.
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It takes Pep Guardiola's team two points clear of Arsenal at the top of the table and means victory at the Etihad against West Ham on Sunday will make them champions for a fourth straight season, regardless of the Gunners' result against Everton.
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No team in English top-flight history has ever won four titles in a row.
Defeat for Spurs also guarantees that Aston Villa will finish in the fourth Champions League spot, joining City, Arsenal and Liverpool in Europe's top-tier competition next season.
Team news
Tottenham: Radu Dragusin, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur came into the side, with Micky van de Ven moving to left-back.
Man City: Pep Guardiola's only change saw Kyle Walker come in for Nathan Ake in defence.
The visitors did go close soon after that when Guglielmo Vicario made a superb save from Phil Foden following an error by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, but they lacked their usual fluency in possession while also offering Spurs encouragement at the other end.
Key Moments:
The build-up to the game in north London was dominated by a fierce debate over whether home fans wanted their own team to lose in order to leave City in the driving seat, with Arsenal their nearest challengers.
The Spurs supporters made their feelings towards their bitter local rivals clear in the opening minutes, with chants of "Stand up if you hate Arsenal" ringing around the stadium.
Both sides settled quickly and Spurs had the first sight of goal when a raking ball from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg found Brennan Johnson on the right.
Johnson squared for Rodrigo Bentancur, who unleashed a fierce shot that Ederson tipped over.
Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario kept out Phil Foden's close-range shot after 15 minutes with a strong right hand.
City, who came into the match on an unbeaten run of 21 matches, were short of their fluent best while Spurs struggled to put the finishing touches to their attacking moves.
The game opened up towards the end of the first period, with City defender Josko Gvardiol flashing a shot over the bar from a tight angle but the sides finished the opening 45 minutes with just one shot on target apiece.
City break deadlock
Moments after the re-start Vicario was forced to dive full length to keep out a stinging De Bruyne effort while Son Heung-min went close at the other end after being found by Johnson.
But City broke the deadlock in the 51st minute when Bernardo Silva found De Bruyne in the box and the Belgian crossed for Haaland to slot home from point-blank range.
Thousands of Spurs fans chanted "Are you watching Arsenal" as the City fans celebrated in their corner.
The game then became disjointed as first De Bruyne was hurt by a Pape Sarr tackle on his ankle before Ederson took a blow to the head in denying Cristian Romero and was replaced minutes later by Stefan Ortega.
The German was called into action immediately, keeping out substitute Dejan Kulusevski's close-range shot with his legs.
The visitors' hearts were in their mouths when Son burst through with five minutes of normal time remaining but Ortega saved with his legs when he seemed likely to score.
Guardiola fell to the ground, clutching his head in disbelief.
Instead, City were awarded a penalty when Pedro Porro brought down substitute Jeremy Doku and Haaland smashed home in the 91st minute to spark wild celebrations from the players in front of the City faithful, taking his league tally to 27 goals for the season.
Last year's treble winners will prepare for Sunday's finale knowing they stand just 90 minutes away from creating another slice of football history.
Player ratings
Tottenham: Vicario (7), Porro (5), Romero (6), Dragusin (7), Van de Ven (6), Hojbjerg (5), Bentancur (5), Sarr (6), Maddison (7), Johnson (7), Son (6).
Subs: Kulusevski (7), Lo Celso (6), Skipp (6), Moore (n/a).
Man City: Ederson (7), Walker (7), Akanji (7), Dias (7), Gvardiol (7), Rodri (7), Kovacic (7), De Bruyne (8), Silva (7), Foden (7), Haaland (8).
Subs: Ortega (8), Doku (7), Alvarez (6).
Player of the match: Erling Haaland
Man City on the brink again - Opta stats
Manchester City will sit top of the Premier League table heading into the final day of the season for the sixth time in the last seven seasons (exception 2019/20), going on to win the title in each of those previous campaigns.
Erling Haaland's opener was the first goal Manchester City have scored in the Premier League at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with what was their 79th shot at the venue.
Kevin De Bruyne has assisted Erling Haaland 12 times in the Premier League since the beginning of last season, at least four more times than any other player has for a team-mate in the competition.
Kevin De Bruyne has now recorded 10+ assists in six different Premier League seasons, the joint-most times alongside Cesc Fabregas. The Belgian (112) also moved ahead of the Spaniard into outright second for most assists in the competition's history, behind only Ryan Giggs (162).
Erling Haaland has scored 63 goals in 65 Premier League appearances, at least eight more than any other player has across their first two campaigns in the competition (Andy Cole - 55).
What's next?
The final day of the Premier League season takes place on Sunday with all games kicking off at 4pm and the title race is going right to the wire.
Manchester City take on West Ham at the Etihad hoping to become champions for a fourth consecutive year. Arsenal, who are looking to win the Premier League for the first time since 2004, welcome Everton to the Emirates.
Tottenham's final fixture of the campaign sees them travel to already-relegated Sheffield United.
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