Football – Arsenal delivered a statement of intent in the Premier League title race with a 5-1 hammering of champions Manchester City to close the gap at the top to six points yesterday.
Captain Martin Odegaard fired Arsenal into a second-minute lead and City were finished off in ruthless fashion after the break with teenagers Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri both on target for the rampant Gunners.
Erling Haaland’s equaliser, his 250th senior career goal, had briefly raised City’s hopes, but they could have no complaints as any lingering hopes of winning a fifth successive title surely disappeared into the north London night.
Arsenal are now 14 games unbeaten in the league and have 50 points from 24 games with leaders Liverpool on 56 from 23.
Manchester City are a distant fourth with 41.
Arsenal have been accused of being over-reliant on set-piece goals this season but yesterday they played with fluency and flare to rack up their biggest home win of the league season.
Sloppy City gifted Arsenal the lead when Manuel Akanji was put in trouble by teammate John Stones and was dispossessed before Kai Havertz calmly set up Odegaard to sweep home from close range despite an attempted block by Stones.
With City at sixes and sevens, Arsenal thought they had made it 2-0 shortly afterwards when Gabriel Martinelli lifted a shot past Stefan Ortega but was adjudged to be offside.
City were spared further punishment when they again lost the ball playing out from the back and Havertz, with the whole goal to aim at, somehow dragged his shot wide.
Haaland touched the ball only six times in the first half but came alive in the 55th minute to head in Savinho’s cross.
For a moment it looked as though Arsenal’s earlier misses might haunt them but 38 seconds after the restart Phil Foden gave the ball away and Thomas Partey’s shot deflected off Stones to leave Ortega with no chance.
With their tails up, Arsenal looked to rub City’s noses in the dirt and Lewis-Skelly took a pass from Declan Rice and curled a shot beyond Ortega for his first senior goal.
The party was already in full swing when substitute Nwaneri left Ortega for dead with a sublime finish.
Tottenham Hotspur bounced back from a four-game losing streak with a vital 2-0 win at Brentford thanks to Vitaly Janelt’s own goal and Pape Sarr’s late strike.
The first half was frantic at times but low on quality, with the deadlock broken when Spurs captain Son Heung-min’s whipped corner bounced in off Janelt as he was grappling with Yves Bissouma in the 29th minute.
The Bees began the second half rapidly and Yoane Wissa skimmed the bar from close range, as Spurs were largely penned back in their own half as they pursued of a much-needed win.
But Brentford never really threatened an equaliser, with a succession of crosses and corners coming to nothing and Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky was rarely tested after the break.
Spurs had dropped a league-high 21 points from winning positions and not won a league game by a single goal this season, but they defended doggedly in the face of Brentford pressure.
Substitute Sarr nutmegged goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson with a lovely finish to secure the three points, though the away fans still chanted “we want Levy out” at chairman Daniel Levy.
The victory was only Spurs’ second win in 12 league games and moved them up to 14th with 27 points.
The result boosted Spurs hopes of turning around their season, which rests largely on Thursday’s trip to Anfield for the second leg of their League Cup semi-final against Liverpool followed by Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Aston Villa.
Brentford, meanwhile, had been unbeaten at home this season before falling to four losses in their last five home league games. They remain 11th with 31 points from 24 games.
l Manchester United’s woeful home form this season continued as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat by Crystal Palace yesterday.
Despite United chasing a fourth successive win in all competitions, Palace were much the better side in the first half at Old Trafford, passing up several chances to capitalise on their superiority.
The visitors did make one count after 64 minutes, Jean-Philippe Mateta reacting first after the ball had come off the crossbar to give his side a deserved lead.
United upped the ante in search of an equaliser but lacked ideas, with Mateta condemning the hosts to a seventh home league loss this term with a late second, helping Palace climb above 13th-placed United into 12th in the standings.
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