INJURY LIST:
Aston Villa took advantage of Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge in the absence of key forward players Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka
Arsenal’s English Premier League title bid suffered a huge blow as West Ham United earned a shock 1-0 win over the 10-man Gunners, while troubled Manchester United rallied from two goals down in a 2-2 draw at Everton on Saturday.
Arsenal had a chance to close the gap with Liverpool in the title race with victory at the Emirates Stadium.
However, Mikel Arteta’s side stumbled to a first loss in 16 league games as Jarrod Bowen netted West Ham’s first half winner before the Gunners had Myles Lewis-Skelly sent off after the interval.
Photo: Reuters
Second-placed Arsenal, whose last top-flight defeat came at Newcastle United in November last year, were eight points behind Liverpool, who would move a massive 11 points clear if they beat spluttering Manchester City last night after press time.
After coming off the bench to score twice in the closing stages of last weekend’s win at Leicester City, Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino started for injury-hit Arsenal as a makeshift striker.
However, Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge in the absence of Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka was exposed when Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s pin-point cross was headed in by Jarrod Bowen in the 44th minute.
Photo: Reuters
There was more misery for Arsenal in the 73rd minute when Lewis-Skelly brought down Mohammed Kudus as the West Ham forward surged away on the halfway line.
Lewis-Skelly was initially shown a yellow card, but the defender’s punishment was increased to a red after referee Craig Pawson consulted the pitch side monitor.
“We never got a grip of it. We didn’t generate a threat or momentum,” Arteta said. “It is painful, but this is sport. We need to feel the pain today, I think we deserve that.”
Photo: Reuters
At Goodison Park, United were headed for a ninth defeat in their last 13 league games as goals from Beto and Abdoulaye Doucoure put Everton two up inside 33 minutes.
Ruben Amorim’s team had not mustered a shot on target until Fernandes’ free-kick pulled a goal back 18 minutes from time before Manuel Ugarte’s equalizer salvaged a point.
Marco Asensio’s first goals for Aston Villa clinched a dramatic 2-1 win against spluttering Chelsea after a costly blunder from Blues keeper Filip Jorgensen.
Photo: AFP
Tottenham Hotspur eased the pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou with a 4-1 win at third-bottom Ipswich Town.
Wolverhampton Wanderers moved five points clear of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win at fifth-placed AFC Bournemouth.
LA LIGA
Reuters
Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres came off the bench to rescue a 2-0 win for Barcelona at Las Palmas on Saturday that sent them back to the top of the Spanish La Liga table after a game that is unlikely to live long in the memory.
Barcelona now lead on 54 points, one ahead of Atletico Madrid. Real Madrid were third on 51, but had a game in hand and would host Girona last night after press time.
Both sides were largely toothless in attack in a slow-paced match and struggled to produce good goal-scoring opportunities, before Barca finally broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute with a shot from inside the box by Olmo.
Torres added the second goal at the death, taking advantage of a mistake by the home side’s defense to fire a strike from close range five minutes into added time.
“There is no pressure, we are still in the driver’s seat and it’s up to us to keep it that way,” Olmo told Spanish TV Movistar Plus. “I’m very happy to help our team take three points that were very important in the title race against a Las Palmas side that defend very well.”
Atletico Madrid won comfortably 3-0 against Valencia thanks to a first-half brace by Julian Alvarez and a late strike by substitute Angel Correa.
Former Manchester City forward Alvarez struck a rebound in the 12th minute to open the scoring and headed home an Antoine Griezmann cross in the 30th to extend Atletico’s lead.
Atletico took their foot off the pedal after the break, but managed to score the third goal through Correa in a quick counterattack in the 86th minute.
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