Premier League
Arsenal seal thrilling comeback win, Man City maintain chase
Arsenal staged a thrilling recovery to beat Bournemouth 3-2 and preserve their five-point cushion in the title race after champions Manchester City turned up the heat earlier on Saturday by beating Newcastle United.
City’s 2-0 win sliced Arsenal’s advantage to two points and when leaders Arsenal trailed 2-0 with an hour gone in north London it appeared their hold on top spot was weakening.
But goals from Thomas Partey and substitutes Ben White and Reiss Nelson — Nelson’s arriving in the seventh minute of stoppage time — sparked wild scenes of celebration.
Chelsea eased some of the pressure on manager Graham Potter as a second-half header from France defender Wesley Fofana earned them a nervy 1-0 home win against Leeds United — their first victory since Jan. 15.
Fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur’s top-four ambitions suffered a dent as they went down 1-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers who are gradually pulling clear of the relegation zone.
Brighton & Hove Albion, meanwhile, boosted their own hopes of qualifying for Europe as they thrashed struggling West Ham United 4-0 to stay in eighth place but with games on hand of all the teams above them. Aston Villa beat Crystal Palace 1-0.
Arsenal had not won a Premier League game in which they had trailed by at least two goals since 2012 so the omens looked bad for the Gunners as they were stunned by Bournemouth.
The visitors needed only 9.1 seconds to go ahead when Philip Billing scored with a close range finish after an audacious move straight from the kickoff — the second quickest goal in Premier League history behind Shane Long’s 7.69 seconds effort for Southampton against Watford in 2019.
Marcos Senesi rose unmarked to head in a second for his side just before the hour mark but it provoked a furious Arsenal response with Thomas Partey prodding a shot past Bournemouth keeper Neto shortly after the hour mark.
Eight minutes later White’s volley crossed the line despite Neto’s desperate dive but Bournemouth appeared to have held on for a point as the game went deep into stoppage time.
Pandemonium then broke out as the ball fell to Nelson from a corner and he sent a left-foot thunderbolt arrowing into the corner of the net to seal an unlikely victory which moved Arsenal to 63 points from 26 games to City’s 58.
“Everybody is overwhelmed a bit. It was madness from the first minute of the game where we defended so poorly and then you have to climb a mountain,” a still-buzzing Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta told reporters.
‘TRICKY GAME’
There was no such drama at Manchester City with Phil Foden scoring an early beauty before substitute Bernardo Silva wrapped up the points in the second half.
Foden, who had been sidelined earlier this season with a nagging foot injury, put City ahead in the 15th minute, weaving through four Newcastle defenders before angling a shot that glanced off defender Sven Botman and past keeper Nick Pope.
Newcastle, who have recorded just one win in their last eight league games and are fifth in the table with 41 points, had some chances but Silva came off the bench in the 65th minute to score with a sharp finish from an Erling Haaland flick.
The goal was City’s 1,000th in the Premier League at home.
“We won the game, we didn’t suffer much at the end — an incredible result for us because it was a tricky game,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Chelsea manager Potter may sleep a little easier after a much-needed three points.
“We were a team who had something to lose so it was great character from the players, they cared and showed togetherness in the team. It gives us something to build on,” Potter, whose team remain in 10th position, said.
Tottenham had the chance to move seven points clear of fifth-placed Newcastle in the race for a top-four finish but suffered a second defeat of the week after tumbling out of the FA Cup at Sheffield United.
Adama Traore struck late on to floor Tottenham who were twice denied by the woodwork.
“Maybe we have to have more of the killer instinct to kill the game when you have the possibility to do it,” Tottenham’s stand-in manager Cristian Stellini said.
-Reuters
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.
City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.
Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.
Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.
The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.
Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.
“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”
Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.
But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.
The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.
Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.
Fulham’s outrageous opener
Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.
But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.
The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.
Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.
Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.
Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.
West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.
Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.
There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.
Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.
-AFP
Premier League
Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup
The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.
An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.
The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.
“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.
“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”
He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.
-Reuters
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.
“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”
Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.
“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.
Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.
-Reuters
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