Arsenal continued their march to their first title since 2004, when they accepted the gift of their direct pursuer Manchester City, the defending champions, who struggled ahead of their hosts Everton 1-1, defeating their hosts Brighton 4 -2 Saturday in the eighteenth stage of the English Football League.
It is the fifth consecutive victory for the Londoners, the ninth in the last ten games in which they have not tasted the taste of defeat, and the fourteenth this season, thus reinforcing the lead with 43 points, widening the gap to seven points against Manchester city.
The Gunners are expecting a string of strong games over the next few weeks, as they host Newcastle III next Tuesday, visit their neighbor Tottenham V on 15 January and host Manchester United on 22, then visit Everton on 4 February, before playing two home games, ahead of Brentford and Manchester City on the 11th and 15th.
And Arsenal, looking for their fourteenth title in their history, scored first, precisely after 66 seconds, with their promising winger, Bukayo Saka, when he took advantage of a defender’s rebound after a shot into the box by the Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli then prepared from close range and followed him with his left foot on goal (2).
It was Saka’s sixth goal this season and Arsenal’s fastest in the league since May 2013, when Theo Walcott gave them the lead against Queens Park Rangers after just 20 seconds.
The Norwegian captain, Martin Odegaard, added the double, taking advantage of a rebound from the defense 27 minutes after a corner kick, and struck with his left hand from inside the area on goal (39), taking his score to 7 league goals.
Arsenal delivered the coup de grace for the home side early in the second half, when Eddie Nikitiah capitalized on a rebound from Spanish goalkeeper Robert Sanchez after a powerful shot from Martinelli, and followed it on goal (47).
The Japanese Kaoru Mituma shortened the distance with a shot from inside the area to Ramsdale’s left (65′), but Martinelli brought it back to its previous state by signing the fourth goal after a ball past Odegaard, so he penetrated into area in the area and hitting the goal with his right foot (71).
Ireland’s Evan Ferguson closed the gap again, taking advantage of a fatal error by French defender William Saliba, then continued to get the ball on target (77).
Spanish manager Pep Guardiola’s men missed out on a win within easy reach and paid dearly for missed opportunities in rounds, especially in the first half when they settled for a goal before conceding a second-half equaliser.
City advanced by a goal to their star and goalscorer and Norwegian Premier League international, Erling Haaland, after a splendid individual effort by Algerian international Riyad Mahrez, within the region where he juggled Ukrainian defender Vitaly Mikolenko and the forward Demarai Gray and cleared a ball onto a gold plate for Haaland, who followed it up with his right into goalkeeper Jordan Pickford (24), taking his tally to 21 league goals this season.
And Everton managed to equalize when Senegal international Idrissa Gana Guy clipped a ball from Spaniard Rodri in midfield and passed it to Gray, who sprinted quickly and ran into the box and looked for a pass for one of the his colleagues, but decided to shoot powerfully and beautifully into the far left corner of Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson (64).
And there was a golden opportunity for Mahrez to give City the lead when a ball was set in front of him after he kicked it in front of goal, and he hit it hard from close range, and Pickford the he dismissed before the defense dispersed him (83).
Guardiola was slow to make substitutions and waited for the 87th minute to uselessly push the Argentine trio Julian Alvares, Phil Foden and the German Ilkay Gundogan in place of the Portuguese Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish and Rico Luis (87).
Pickford continued his brilliance and blocked a powerful shot from Belgian Kevin De Bruyne (90+5).
Newcastle were no better than Manchester City and fell in a goalless draw to their hosts Leeds and their winning streak stopped at six.
International forward Marcus Rashford, who was left out of Manchester United’s starting lineup for ‘internal discipline’ reasons, saved the ‘Red Devils’ when he came on as a second-half substitute and scored the winning goal at Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 – 0.
Rashford, 25, was handed a suspension penalty by his Dutch coach, Eric Ten Hag, who, as usual, indicated before the game that his striker would not start “for violating our internal rules”, without providing further details.
And he replaced Rashford, who also scored in the previous two games for the Red Devils and three goals for his country in the World Cup in Qatar, the young Argentinean Alejandro Garnacho (18), who scored the winning goal for the his team in their last match before the World Cup against Fulham (2-1) on 13 November.
But Rashford replaced the hapless Garnacho between half-time and made the difference in the 76th minute after a volley from Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes, so he went out and scored his 11th goal of the season from inside the box in various competitions.
With their third successive league win and fifth in various competitions, United took their tally to 32 points from 16 games and moved up temporarily to fourth place, two points behind Tottenham, who host Aston Villa at Sunday’s end of the phase.
On the other hand, Wolverhampton remained in the relegation zone after Spanish manager Julen Lopetegui suffered his first defeat in three games since his arrival in place of the dismissed Portuguese Bruno Lagi.
Players observed a minute’s silence before the game in honor of Brazilian football legend Pele’s departure on Thursday at the age of 82. United’s Brazil international winger Anthony lifted his shirt to display a personal message to the former three-time world champion.
Bournemouth lost against Crystal Palace with two clear goals scored by Ghanaian Jordan Ayew (19′) and Iberian Eze (36), while Fulham beat Southampton with two goals by James Ward-Prowse (32 errors on goal of his team) and the Brazilian Balenia (88) against a goal by Ward-Prowse (56).
Nottingham Forest will also play Chelsea tomorrow.
