FOOTBALL – WILLIAM Osula came off the bench to score a late winner as a 10-man Newcastle United beat high-flying Manchester United 2-1 in the Premier League last night to end Michael Carrick’s unbeaten run as interim manager.
Playing the entire second half with a player down, Newcastle stunned third-placed United with a spectacular solo goal on the stroke of fulltime.
The defeat left the visitors nine points adrift of second-placed Manchester City, held 2-2 at home by struggling Nottingham Forest, and still level with Aston Villa on 51 points.
The game turned on a chaotic 10 minutes of first-half stoppage time, when Jacob Ramsey was sent off for a second yellow card after the referee decided he had taken a dive, with the clock at 45+1.
Anthony Gordon won a penalty after a clash with United captain Bruno Fernandes five minutes later and put Newcastle 1-0 up with his ninth successful spot kick out of nine so far this season.
The halftime whistle had still to be blown when Fernandes, from a set piece, found Casemiro who headed in the equaliser at 45+9.
Despite the numerical advantage, Carrick’s side struggled to assert themselves in the second half and at times looked more like the team with 10 as Newcastle pushed forward in search of the winner.
Earlier, leaders Arsenal ground out another three points in their title quest with Bukayo Saka marking his 300th appearance for the club with the only goal in a crucial 1-0 victory at Brighton and Hove Albion.
On what could prove a pivotal evening in the title race, Arsenal extended their lead at the top to seven points after Manchester City dropped points at home to Nottingham Forest.
Saka’s deflected shot deceived Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen in the ninth minute and that proved sufficient for the visitors to overcome another tricky hurdle as they try to win the title for the first time since 2004.
Again it was not an eye-catching display by Mikel Arteta’s side as Brighton dominated but they displayed impressive defensive grit to keep the hosts at bay.
Arsenal keeper David Raya almost gifted Brighton a goal early on with a poor clearance but was saved by Gabriel’s goal-line clearance and the Spaniard was well-protected by his rearguard as Brighton pressed after the break.
The north London club have 67 points from 30 games with City on 60 points from 29 games.
Forest’s Elliott Anderson struck a late equaliser to shock City with a 2-2 draw.
Second-placed City were left frustrated after failing to see out a match they had largely controlled. Antoine Semenyo put City on the scoresheet in the 31st minute when he volleyed home Rayan Cherki’s cross from the centre of the box. Morgan Gibbs-White equalised in the 56th minute with a stunning back-heeled shot from close range through the legs of Ruben Dias and in at the near post.
Rodri celebrated what he thought was the winner when he headed home from a corner in the 62nd minute, but Anderson had the visiting fans in raptures in the 76th minute when he curled a strike from 25 yards out past City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Joao Pedro scored his first Premier League hat-trick as Chelsea came from behind to thump hosts Aston Villa 4-1 and move above Liverpool in the table.
Fifth-placed Chelsea have 48 points from 29 games, while Villa in fourth have 51 points from the same number of matches as they continue to stutter in the league with two wins in their last nine top-flight fixtures.
Douglas Luiz gave Villa an early lead, but that was as good as it got for the home side, as Chelsea, who began to dominate the contest, were clinical in front of goal.
Pedro’s treble takes his tally of goals to 14 in the Premier League this season, while Cole Palmer was also on the scoresheet in the best performance of Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior’s tenure to date.
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