Arsenal pushed the title race to its final weekend with a 1-0 victory over Manchester United on Sunday after Manchester City did its part by defeating Fulham 4-0 the day before. Manchester City can nose ahead with a victory Tuesday at Tottenham Hotspur. If Manchester City wins on Tuesday and then again on Sunday versus West Ham, it will mean a fourth consecutive Premier League championship for the Citizens and Manager Pep Guardiola. An upset by Spurs, however, will give Arsenal the upper hand and the ability to clinch a first title for Manager Mikel Arteta when they host Everton this coming Sunday.
Liverpool, meanwhile, was eliminated from title contention by Arsenal’s victory. Insult was then added to injury for the Reds when Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran scored two late goals, in the 85th and 88th minutes, to secure a 3-3 draw with Liverpool at Villa Park on Monday.
Arsenal’s win at Manchester United on Sunday came when Leandro Trossard scored his 14th goal of the season for the Gunners, assisted by Kai Havertz and lazy Manchester United defending. Once again, it was Casemiro with the blunder for Manchester United as his laggard approach to moving up field kept Arsenal’s Havertz on side when the ball changed possession and the former Chelsea man found Gunner teammate Trossard in an easy position for the Belgian midfielder to strike the 20th minute winner. Casemiro, the former Real Madrid midfielder has been employed as an emergency center back for Manchester United and has created additional emergencies with his play at the unaccustomed position. The one goal was enough for Arsenal to keep its title hopes alive as goalkeeper David Raya notched his Premier League leading 16th clean sheet. Manchester United, playing a second match without Bruno Fernandes, seldom challenged Raya who needed to make only two relatively straightforward saves. Arsenal claimed a club record 27th Premier League win in retaining its hopes for a championship. Manchester United, meanwhile, has won only one of its past eight league matches as a European place is slipping away from the Red Devils. Manchester United is three points behind both sixth place Newcastle and seventh place Chelsea as the Red Devils prepare to hist the Magpies on Wednesday. in the scramble for the remaining European places in the table. The Red Devils also have a lifeline for a Europa League berth should they upset Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Newcastle was forced to share the points at home versus Brighton on Saturday in a slog of a match which saw neither side score in the second half of a 1-1 standoff.
Chelsea took advantage of Newcastle’s dropped points with a late comeback to beat Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. Raheem Sterling scored in the 80th minute and Nicolas Jackson scored the winner for Chelsea just two minutes later for a 3-2 win which stunned the Tricky Trees and continued Chelsea’s late season surge. Only the top three clubs in the league have captured as many points since January 1st as Chelsea. Jackson’s goal on Saturday was his 14th league goal of the season as the Senegalese striker has quieted the talk of Chelsea desperately needing another answer on top. Saturday’s winner was Jackson’s fifth goal in Chelsea’s last five matches.
Match highlights from yesterday’s win at the City Ground! 📺🔥#CFC | #NfoChe pic.twitter.com/ptLPMdVilp
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 12, 2024
Despite losing on Saturday, Nottingham Forest seems all but assured of surviving its relegation scare. Luton Town lost 3-1 to West Ham on Saturday, leaving the Hatters three points behind the Trees with one match left for both sides. The Tricky Trees, however, also have a goal differential advantage of 12 so next weekend appears a mere formality before the league says sayonara to Luton Town.
Burnley was mathematically relegated with its 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. Micky van de Ven, playing as a fullback versus his accustomed center back role, scored the winner for Spurs in the 82nd minute to snap a four-match losing run for Manager Ange Postecoglou’s side.
Spurs trail Aston Villa by five points for the final Champions League berth entering Tuesday’s match with Manchester City. The defending champions appeared unbeatable on Saturday as they demolished Fulham 4-0, overrunning a Cottagers side which managed only a single shot on the Citizens’ goal. Josko Gvardiol had a brace for Manchester City which continues to get goals from players all over the pitch. On a club rife with dangerous attacking players, defender Gvardiol has scored five goals in his last seven competitions across all competitions. The win over Fulham marked Manchester City’s seventh consecutive league victory with the Citizens having scored four or more goals in six of those matches.
Following the mid-week match with Spurs, Manchester City will finish the season at home versus West Ham while Arsenal is home to Everton. West Ham’s 3-1 victory over Luton town ended a four-match winless run as David Moyes enjoyed a triumphant final contest on the home touchline for the Hammers. Everton also ended its home schedule win a win, defeating Sheffield United 1-0 to extend the unbeaten run for the Toffees to five matches. Abdoulaye Doucoure’s winner was his seventh goal for the Toffees, tying Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the club lead.
Crystal Palace is another squad finishing the season in style as the Eagles downed Wolverhampton, 3-1 for a fifth win in a current six match unbeaten run for Manager Oliver Glasner and his streaking Eagles. Young stars Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta found the net for the Eagles at Molineux Stadium. Palace could yet enjoy a top half finish.
Brighton and Bournemouth both dropped points to reduce their margin over the Eagles to two points. Brighton, currently occupying 10th on goal differential over Bournemouth, has a makeup match to play against Chelsea on Wednesday. Bournemouth was stunned at home versus Brentford on Saturday when Yoane Wissa scored in the 95th minute of play to capture all three points for the Bees. Bryan Mbeumo had a goal and an assist in the Bee victory while Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke found the net for the 19th time in his breakout Premier League season.
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