Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League yesterday after scrapping their way to a 1-0 victory over Newcastle United, easing concerns over their dip in form.
The win ended a run of back-to-back league defeats against Bournemouth and Manchester City that had cost Mikel Arteta’s side their grip on first place for the first time since October, with Eberechi Eze’s early strike enough to secure a hard-fought three points.
At the other end of the table, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United earned vital wins in their relegation fight, Spurs edging bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 as Joao Palhinha struck late to end a long winless streak and West Ham beating Everton 2-1.
Palhinha’s goal in the 82nd minute lifted Spurs to 34 points, but 17th-placed West Ham ensured the pressure remained firmly on their London rivals, moving to 36 points with four games remaining, leaving Tottenham still in the drop zone, one place behind them.
Liverpool climbed above Aston Villa into fourth in the table on 58 points with their 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace to help solidify their bid for a Champions League spot next season.
Villa lost 1-0 to Fulham in yesterday’s early game to drop to fifth, trailing Liverpool on goal difference as the battle for European qualification intensifies with the league in its final stretch.
After slipping off the league summit, Arsenal responded to move onto 73 points from 34 games and climb three points clear of City, who have a game in hand.
The performance was far from their best and the quality of Eze’s sublime ninth-minute strike stood in stark contrast to much of a laboured display by Mikel Arteta’s side, who struggled to impose themselves for long spells.
At Molineux, Spurs claimed a first league victory in 16 games with their win against already-relegated Wolves.
West Ham took a big step towards league survival with substitute Callum Wilson’s 92nd-minute winner keeping the Hammers out of the relegation zone.
After a drab first half, the game sparked into life when Jordan Pickford’s save from Taty Castellanos led to a brief VAR check and the corner from which Tomas Soucek headed the opening goal in the 51st minute.
The Hammers clung on to their lead until Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall fired home an equaliser in the 88th minute, but Wilson popped up in added time to give the hosts a precious victory.
Nottingham Forest had put some distance between themselves and both West Ham and Spurs with their 5-0 rout of Sunderland on Friday that left them 16th on 39 points.
At Anfield, Alexander Isak scored his first goal since fracturing his leg in December in the 35th minute, before Andy Robertson doubled the Reds’ lead five minutes later.
Daniel Munoz pulled one back for Palace in the 71st minute with Liverpool’s third-choice keeper Freddie Woodman down injured, but Florian Wirtz found the net deep in injury time to wrap up the win.
&uuid=(email))