Newcastle United on Saturday inflicted a sixth English Premier League defeat of the season on Manchester United as Arsenal beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 to extend their lead at the top to four points.
Anthony Gordon scored the only goal at St James’ Park to lift Newcastle up to fifth in the table and within two points of the top four.
By contrast, Manchester slipped to seventh and have yet to beat any side in the top nine of the Premier League this season.
Photo: Reuters
Newcastle deserved to win by a bigger margin despite missing 11 first-team players due to injury or suspension and losing goalkeeper Nick Pope late on to a shoulder problem.
Kieran Trippier’s free-kick came back off the underside of the bar and Alexander Isak’s effort was deflected inches wide before the break.
Gordon finally made the breakthrough 10 minutes into the second period when he was picked out by Trippier to convert at the back post.
“I couldn’t be happier with the players tonight,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said after his under-strength side took seven points from three games in a week against Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester.
“The performances we put in against three top teams were brilliant so that will give confidence, and when we get some players back we can push on even further,” Howe said.
Arsenal were made to survive a late scare despite getting off to a flying start at the Emirates.
Goals from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard put the Gunners 2-0 up inside 13 minutes.
Yet they failed to put the game to bed and were made to sweat when Wolves forward Matheus Cunha found the top corner in the 86th minute to set up a tense finale.
Despite the wobble, Arsenal, last year’s runners-up, held on to notch their 10th win in 14 league games, which moves them four points clear of champions Manchester City, who host Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
“I can only praise the players,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “They were excellent. We played against a really good side and generated so much and conceded almost nothing. The scoreline should have been very different. We were very unlucky because we hit the post three times I think.”
“At the end we made an error close to the goal — in the Premier League you get punished big time for that. Then it’s game on. Overall I’m really happy with how we performed again,” he said.
At the other end of the table, Burnley got their first home win of the season in style with a 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United.
Luton Town, just outside the drop zone, sank to a 3-1 defeat at Brentford & Hove Albion, while Everton boosted their survival hopes, despite being hit by a swingeing 10-point deduction, with a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest.
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