Brentford landed a big surprise by coming back victorious from defending champions Manchester City 2-1 in the opener of the 16th stage of the English football league, then Arsenal capitalized on the gift by defeating Wolverhampton 2-0 and adrift by 5 points in the guide.
Arsenal owe their victory to Norwegian international midfielder Martin Odegaard, who scored both goals in the 55th minute when he received a close-range cross from Portuguese substitute Fabio Vieira, who followed into an empty net and 87th minute after a rebound by Portuguese goalkeeper Jose Sa.
Arsenal, who lost the efforts of Swiss international midfielder Granit Xhaka to his 16th-minute injury when Vieira came on in his place, lifted their tally to 37 points, to City’s 34 in the last season stage before the stop due to the World Cup in Qatar.
Arsenal capitalized on City’s fall to Brentford, who earned their second major result of the season after inflicting a heavy defeat on hosts Manchester United 4-0 in the second stage.
The star of the encounter was Brentford’s top scorer Evan Toney, who was not chosen by England manager Gareth Southgate in the official squad to attend the World Cup in Qatar, despite his considerable brilliance this season, scoring the two goals in the match.
City entered the fixture with a perfect home record this season, having won their seven games since the start of the current season, but Brentford ended that run. It was also his first fall at home since last February.
The defeat is City’s second in the league this season and first since their 0-1 tumble to Liverpool on 16 October in the 11th stage, after which they secured a win over Brighton 3-1, Leicester City 1- 0 and Fulham 2-1 in the league, and also knocked Chelsea out of the third round of League Cup competition by beating them 2-0 on Wednesday.
Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland returned to the starting lineup after missing their last match against Chelsea in the League Cup (2-0) in mid-week, and has been assisted by Phil Foden and Portugal’s Bernardo Silva.
The meeting was the third between the sides and Brentford picked up their first win after two defeats.
Brentford started the match strongly and it was a stubborn game for the home side, and managed to open the scoring from their top scorer, Tony, who ran over a cross which he headed into the net, despite the defender’s intervention of the Spanish national Aymeric Laporte.
City found it difficult to penetrate Brentford’s organized defense and only scored Foden’s goal in the 39th minute, but Spanish goalkeeper David Raya brilliantly saved his attempt.
However, Raya was helpless as Foden fired a powerful ball with his left foot “on the fly” that hit his net (45+1).
Manchester City pressed early in the second half, but failed to threaten Brentford’s goal, who were one step away from coming back if it hadn’t been for Laporte’s well-timed intervention to clear a cross that almost reached Tony lurking. in front of the door (65).
City played their part late in the game, and their Spanish manager, Pep Guardiola, brought in their young Argentine striker Julian Alvarez in an attempt to level the score, but Brentford capitalized on a quick counterattack, during which Josh Dasilva cleared a perfect cross, which Tony followed from close range into the net ((90+8) amid shock inside the Etihad Stadium.
Tony took his tally to 9 league goals this season.
“The best team won – said Guardiola -. Usually we manage to press and recover the ball, but the opponent knew how to make long forward passes that we couldn’t intercept. We also faced good defenders”.
For his part, Brentford’s Danish manager Thomas Frank praised his players and said: “Amazing performance. Speaking to some people at the club, this is probably the greatest result ever, against one of the richest clubs in the world, and we have one of the lowest budgets in the league.”
And Newcastle continued their impressive results of late and grabbed their fifth straight win as they deepened the wounds of their host Chelsea by defeating them with a single goal scored by Joe Willock with a wonderful strike from the edge of the box (67) .
Newcastle strengthened their position in third place with 30 points, while Chelsea, who have failed to win in their last five league games, suffered their third and fourth successive defeats in various competitions after exiting the Cup empty-handed of the League falling to Manchester City 0-2 on Wednesday in the third round.
And Tottenham regained their footing, making up for a last-stage home defeat by Liverpool when they snatched a tough win from hosts Leeds United 4-3 in an inspiring match during which they went from behind three times.
The London team found themselves behind early, precisely in the tenth minute, through Dutchman Chrisencio Summerville, and international Harry Kane equalized after 15 minutes (25), but Spaniard Rodrigo relaunched the visitors two minutes before the end of the first half.
Defender Ben Davis managed to equalize early in the second half (51), and Rodrigo scored his second and third personal goals for Leeds United in the 76th minute), before Uruguayan international Rodrigo Bentancur turned the tables on the visitors and scored a brace in two minutes (81 and 83), giving the victory to coach Antonio Conti’s men.
Tottenham strengthened their position in fourth place with 29 points.
Liverpool continued their resurgence with their second consecutive win and sixth this season when they beat their hosts Southampton 3-1.
Liverpool scored through their Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino for the first time, precisely in the sixth minute, with a backhand kick, following a lateral free kick that Scottish full-back Andrew Robertson scored, but his The joy lasted just three minutes, when the visitors equalized with the other Scotsman, Che Adams, with a close-range header from Side’s free-kick (9).
Uruguayan international striker Darwin Nunes established himself as the star of the match by scoring twice for Liverpool, who put them back in front following a cross from Harvey Elliott, followed by his left foot “volley” from close range to the left of the goalkeeper (21), then dealt the visitors the fatal blow by scoring his second and third personal goals for his side. When he capitalized on Robertson’s cross inside the box, he followed it with his right foot to the goalkeeper’s right (42) .
It is Nunes’ fifth league goal of the season.
Liverpool temporarily moved up to sixth place, on 22 points, with a match postponed, by one point, against Brighton, who host Aston Villa on Sunday, and Chelsea.
Nottingham Forest finished bottom defeating Crystal Palace with a single goal scored by Morgan Gibbs-White (54).
Ivory Coast Palace striker Wilfried Zaha missed a penalty in the 41st minute.
Bournemouth honored their host, Everton, with a clean three, scored by Marcus Tavernier (18), Welshman Kiefer Moore (25) and Jaydon Anthony (69).
West Ham United suffered a third successive defeat when they fell to Leicester City with two clean goals scored by James Madison (8) and Harvey Barnes (78).
Belgian Youri Tielemans missed a penalty for Leicester in the 42nd minute.
