Tuesday, 11 April 2023

Top two eye title

 

With the Premier League title within dreaming distance, Arsenal’s lead over Manchester City is suddenly looking precarious while Manchester United and Newcastle are vying for third place.

Week 21 – Chelsea played a goalless match at Liverpool as did Newcastle at Crystal Palace while Bournemouth drew 1-1 at home to Nottingham Forest and Brighton shared 4 goals with hosts Leicester City. A Jarrod Bowen brace gave West Ham a home win over Everton and one goal was enough to give visiting Aston Villa a win at Southampton while on Sunday Eddie Nketiah completed his double in the last minute of a pulsating match at the Emirates to give Arsenal a 3-2 victory over Manchester United and Erling Haaland scored all 3 goals in Manchester City’s win at home to Wolves. Brentford drew 0-0 at Leeds and on Monday Fulham fell to a solitary goal at home to Spurs.

Week 22 – The week’s fixtures began with a goalless draw between Chelsea and Fulham on Friday evening and on Saturday, league leaders Arsenal came unstuck 1-0 at Everton while Crystal Palace lost 2-1 at 10-man Manchester United and Newcastle drew 1-1 at home to West Ham. Leicester City won a thrilling match 4-2 at Aston Villa while Southampton were beaten 3-0 at Brentford and Liverpool were taken apart 3-0 at Wolves. A late goal settled the match in Brighton’s favour against their visitors from Bournemouth and on Sunday Manchester City failed to take advantage of Arsenal’s slip up when they lost 1-0 at Tottenham who finished the match with 10 players while Leeds United parted company with manager Jesse Marsch after losing 1-0 at Nottingham Forest. On Wednesday evening, in a rearranged match, Manchester United fought back from 2 down against managerless Leeds United to draw 2-2 at Old Trafford.  

Week 23 In a controversial weekend, Brentford managed to draw 1-1 at league leaders Arsenal and there were 1-1 draws for Chelsea at West Ham and for Brighton at Crystal Palace while Tottenham opened the scoring but were thumped 4-1 at Leicester and Fulham defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Craven Cottage. Ten-man Wolves came from behind to win 2-1 at troubled Southampton and Newcastle drew 1-1 at Bournemouth while on Sunday Manchester United scored 2 latre goals to win at Leeds and Manchester City registered a 3-1 home win against Aston Villa. On Monday evening Liverpool put 2 past Everton in the Merseyside derby at Anfield and in a rearranged match on Wednesday, Manchester City Overtook Arsenal at the top on goal difference after a 3-1 victory at the Emirates.

Week 24 – Arsenal regained top spot after twice coming from behind and scoring twice in stoppage time to win 4-2 at Aston Villa while Manchester City could only draw 1-1 at Nottingham Forest and 10-man Newcastle lost to 2 early goals at home to Liverpool. Chelsea were stunned 1-0 at home to bottom of the table Southampton and Brighton fell to a late goal at home to Fulham while Brentford scored a last-gasp goal to draw 1-1 at home to Crystal Palace and Leeds lost to a single goal at Everton. Bournemouth scored the only goal of the match at Wolverhampton Wanderers while on Sunday a double from Marcus Rashford helped Manchester United to a 3-0 win at home to Leicester and West Ham lost 2-0 at Tottenham.

Week 25 – On Saturday, after Wolves had drawn 1-1 at Fulham on Friday evening, a single goal gave Arsenal 3 points at Leicester while Manchester City sailed 4-1 past Bournemouth on their travels and Nottingham Forest fell apart 4-0 at West Ham for whom Danny Ings netted a double. Everton lost 2-0 at home to Aston Villa while Leeds got the better of Southampton with a goal at Elland Road and Liverpool played a goalless match at Crystal Palace. On Sunday, while Manchester United were winning the League Cup with a 2-0 win over Newcastle at Wembley, Chelsea lost 2-0 at Tottenham while in rearranged matches on Wednesday Gabriel Martinelli scored twice as Arsenal brushed Everton aside 4-0 at the Emirates and Liverpool put 2 past Wolves at Anfield.

Week 26 – With Manchester City having won 2-0 at home to Newcastle, Arsenal conceded after only 9 seconds and went 2 down to Bournemouth before mounting a valiant comeback that saw them score the 3-2 winner with the last kick of the game in front of their jubilant home crowd while West Ham were hammered 4-0 at Brighton and 10 men from Crystal Palace fell to an own goal at Aston Villa who were joined by Chelsea, Wolves and Southampton in achieving 1-0 home wins, beating Leeds, Tottenham and Leicester respectively. On Sunday, after Everton had drawn 2-2 at Nottingham Forest, Manchester United were destroyed 7-0 at Liverpool for whom Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah each grabbed a brace while on Monday evening Fulham lost 3-2 at Brentford.

Week 27 – Liverpool lost 1-0 at Bournemouth and Brentford suffered the same result with a first-minute goal at Everton while Brighton twice took the lead but drew 2-2 at Leeds. Harry Kane score twice as Tottenham ran out 3-1 winners at home to Nottingham Forest while Chelsea enjoyed the same result at Leicester who finished the match with 10 players and a penalty conversion in favour of Manchester City was the difference between them and their hosts Crystal Palace. On Sunday Arsenal picked up another win with 3 first-half goals at Fulham and Newcastle sent Wolves home 2-1 losers while Southampton earned a 0-0 draw at Manchester United who were reduced to 10 players and West Ham drew 1-1 at home to Aston Villa. On Wednesday evening, in rearranged matches Brentford put 2 past their hosts at troubled Southampton while Crystal Palace lost 1-0 at Brighton.

Week 28 – On Friday evening Newcastle United came from a behind to win 2-1 at Nottingham Forest with Alexander Isak completing his brace from the spot in stoppage-time while on Saturday, a stoppage-time penalty earned Southampton a 3-3 draw at home to Tottenham having  trailed 3-1 to the Londoners and Wolverhampton Wanderers attempted to fightback from 3 down at home to Leeds but ended the match 4-2 losers with nine players on the field. Aston Villa put 3 past their visitors from Bournemouth without reply and Everton twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Chelsea while Leicester drew 1-1 at Brentford who finished the match with 10 players. On Sunday, after parting with manager Patrick Viera, Crystal Palace lost 4-1 at Arsenal with Bukayo Saka netting twice for the league leaders.

Week 29 – Liverpool took the lead at Manchester City but were outclassed 4-1 while Gabriel Jesus scored a double as Arsenal enjoyed the same result at home to Leeds United and Chelsea lost 2-0 at home to Aston Villa before dismissing manager Graham Potter. Brighton and Hove Albion 3 times came from behind to earn a late 3-3 draw at home to Brentford while Bournemouth fell behind but defeated their visitors from Fulham 2-1 and Crystal Palace achieved the same result with their winning goal at home to Leicester coming in stoppage time. Wolves drew 1-1 at Nottingham Forest and on Sunday one goal was enough to give West Ham a home win over Southampton while Newcastle beat Manchester United 2-0 at St James’ Park. On Monday evening, 10-man Everton scored a last-minute goal at Goodison Park to draw 1-1 with Tottenham who also finished the match with 10 players. In rearranged matches in midweek, Liverpool played a goalless match at Chelsea and Brighton won 2-0 at Bournemouth while there were 2-1 wins for Leeds who came from behind at home to Nottingham Forest and for Aston Villa at 10-man Leicester City who had recently parted company with manager Brendan Rodgers. West Ham United were hammered 5-1 at home to Newcastle for who Callum Wilson Joelinton each netted a brace while a single goal at Old Trafford gave Manchester United 3 points against Brentford.

Week 30 – Manchester United scored twice at home to Everton and Aston Villa achieved the same result with a goal in stoppage-time against Nottingham Forest while there were 1-0 away wins for West Ham at Fulham and for Bournemouth at Leicester City. In a controversial match, Tottenham beat their visitors from Brighton 2-1 and at Brentford, Toney, who missed a penalty for the first time, made amends with another spot kick, but Newcastle came back after the break to win 2-1 and Chelsea were defeated by a single goal at Wolves. Erling Haaland netted a double as Manchester City ran out 4-1 winners at Southampton while on Sunday Arsenal took a 2-goal lead at Liverpool but were pegged back to 2-2 and Leeds United went ahead in front of their home crowd but were thumped 5-1 by Crystal Palace for whom Jordan Ayew scored twice. Burnley became the first team this year to gain promotion to the Premier League.