FOOTBALL – Arsenal came back from a goal down to beat Leeds United 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium yesterday, with Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes coming off the bench to net the winner as the Premier League resumed following a lengthy international break.
The competition returned under a cloud, with Manchester City found guilty by an independent commission of more than 100 breaches of the league’s financial rules over nine years and their failure to co-operate with the investigation.
City have denied wrongdoing and have appealed against the decision.
On the pitch, champions Arsenal climbed to second in the table on 15 points, behind City on goal difference before the Manchester club travel to Liverpool today.
Chelsea struck twice in the opening three minutes en route to a 5-1 thrashing of Bournemouth, with Jordan Henderson and Joao Pedro bagging two goals apiece, and are fifth on 10 points.
Tottenham Hotspur struck in stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw at Manchester United as both sides’ struggles continued.
Brighton & Hove Albion climbed to third, two points off top spot, with a 2-0 win at Sunderland.
Aston Villa and visiting Brentford drew 2-2, while Ipswich Town edged Fulham 2-1 at Portman Road with a last-gasp goal to leave the last-placed London side without a league victory this season.
Arsenal were looking to bounce back, having slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Brighton in the last game before the break but endured a frustrating first half as they struggled to create chances.
Their play improved in the second period, but Leeds took the lead in the 55th minute when James Justin slammed home a clever pull-back from Gabriel Gudmundsson.
Riccardo Calafiori levelled for Arsenal seven minutes later, the Italian jumping to steer home Ben White’s knock-down and, sensing his side could grab all three points, manager Mikel Arteta rang the changes.
He sent on Guimaraes, Jurrien Timber and Viktor Gyokeres, and was rewarded when Guimaraes grabbed the winner with a brilliantly worked goal in the 70th minute, sending a low shot into the far corner of the net from the edge of the box.
Leeds are sixth on nine points.
At Stamford Bridge, Henderson was Chelsea’s unlikely hero, opening the scoring in the second minute when Cole Palmer, fresh from signing a new contract, drove forward from the halfway line before setting him up to score.
Chelsea struck again a minute later when Henderson found Morgan Rogers, whose curling effort deflected in off defender Antonio Silva.
Chelsea extended their lead 40 seconds after halftime through Joao Pedro before Evanilson pulled one back for the visitors five minutes later.
Joao Pedro netted the Blues’ fourth before Henderson capped the win with a superb curling free kick.
Henderson, 36, became the oldest player to be directly involved in three-plus Premier League goals since Cristiano Ronaldo in April 2022.
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