Arsenal stormed six points clear at the top of the English Premier League as Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres put Fulham to the sword in a 3-0 win, while West Ham United’s defeat at Brentford offered Tottenham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for survival.
The Gunners have stumbled toward the finish line in their quest for a first league title in 22 years, blowing a sizeable lead over Manchester City in a series of nervous displays.
However, the return of Saka, making his first start in six weeks, freed up Mikel Arteta’s men in a dominant performance that shrugged off fears of fatigue in between two legs of a UEFA Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid.
Photo: Action Images via Reuters
Gyokeres also silenced his critics with two predatory finishes to take his tally to 21 in his first season since a ￡64 million (US$87 million) move from Sporting Lisbon.
The Swede was perfectly positioned to tap in Saka’s cross after just nine minutes to ease any Arsenal tension.
Riccardo Calafiori had a second goal ruled out by video assistant referee (VAR) for offside before Gyokeres and Saka combined again to double the home side’s lead.
Photo: Reuters
This time Gyokeres fed the England international, who blasted in at Bernd Leno’s near post.
City can eradicate Arsenal’s lead with two games in hand before the Gunners next play in the Premier League.
However, goal difference could prove decisive in the destiny of the title.
Arsenal stretched their goal difference advantage to four when Gyokeres rose highest to head in Leandro Trossard’s cross just before halftime.
Arteta was then able to look ahead to the second leg against Atletico, with the tie finely poised at 1-1, as Saka made way at halftime, before Gyokeres, Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze were also rested for the closing stages.
Defeat was a major blow to Fulham’s ambitions of European football next season as they remain in 10th.
Brentford took control of the battle for sixth, which could be enough for Champions League qualification, by inflicting a damaging 3-0 defeat on West Ham.
Tottenham remain in the relegation zone, two points from safety, but could move out of the bottom three with victory at Aston Villa last night after the Hammers succumbed to just their third defeat in 11 league games.
Konstantinos Mavropanos was left to rue his luck in two key first-half incidents.
The Greek defender was unfortunate not to be awarded a free-kick as he turned the ball into his own net to open the scoring.
Mavropanos thought he had made amends moments later with a bullet header, but was ruled marginally offside by a VAR review.
Brentford had another call go in their favor early in the second half when Dango Ouattara won a penalty, and Igor Thiago coolly converted his 22nd Premier League goal of the season.
Mikkel Damsgaard’s strike rounded off a bad day for West Ham, who face Arsenal next weekend.
Newcastle eased any lingering fears of being drawn into the relegation battle with a 3-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion to end a five-game losing streak.
William Osula and Dan Burn scored in the opening 24 minutes as Newcastle edged up to 13th.
Jack Hinshelwood pulled a goal back, but defeat could prove costly to Brighton’s European hopes as having started the weekend in sixth, they could end it outside the top half.
Harvey Barnes rounded off the scoring in stoppage time to bring some relief to the under-fire Eddie Howe.
Sunderland’s bid for Europe was also dented by a 1-1 draw at bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Arsenal stormed six points clear at the top of the English Premier League as Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres put Fulham to the sword in a 3-0 win, while West Ham United’s defeat at Brentford offered Tottenham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for survival. The Gunners have stumbled toward the finish line in their quest for a first league title in 22 years, blowing a sizeable lead over Manchester City in a series of nervous displays. However, the return of Saka, making his first start in six weeks, freed up Mikel Arteta’s men in a dominant performance that shrugged
Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday said that she hoped she would be able to play tennis under the Belarusian flag after the International Olympic Committee lifted its ban on the country’s athletes competing in the Olympics. World No. 1 Sabalenka has had to compete under a neutral banner as a consequence of her country’s support for Russia following its ally’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC earlier on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place. Asked whether the women’s tour would drop the ban on her representing her country, Sabalenka said:
RSS