Arsenal's Bukayo Saka celebrates after he scored his side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Liverpool. Photo / AP
Arsenal's Bukayo Saka celebrates after he scored his side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Liverpool. Photo / AP
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker made two costly errors in a 3-1 loss at Arsenal today as the gap between the two Premier League title rivals was trimmed to two points.
Arsenal had gifted an equaliser to Liverpool in first-half stoppage time as Gabriel Magalhaes’ own-goal canceled out Bukayo Saka’s 14th-minute opener.
A mix-up between Virgil van Dijk and Alisson allowed Gabriel Martinelli to round off a fine individual performance by reestablishing the lead for Arsenal in the 67th, before substitute Leandro Trossard fired through Alisson’s legs — via a slight deflection off Van Dijk — in second-half stoppage time.
It was just a second league defeat of the season for Liverpool, which struggled to get into the game for the majority of the first half at Emirates Stadium and ended with 10 men as Ibrahima Konate was sent off for a second yellow card in the 88th.
Martinelli once again shone against Liverpool, hitting his fifth goal against Jurgen Klopp’s team. Klopp, who is leaving at the end of the season, is no doubt looking forward to seeing the back of a player he once described as “a talent of the century.”
Arsenal was without Gabriel Jesus, injured once more, and took the lead against Liverpool for the fourth Premier League meeting in a row.
A great pass from Martin Odegaard found Kai Havertz in space, the Germany international breaking through on goal only to shoot straight at Alisson. Saka was on hand to turn home the rebound.
Despite struggling with Arsenal’s high press and failing to register a shot on target in the first half, Liverpool went in level at the break as the unwitting Gabriel turned the ball into his own goal off his arm after Luis Diaz outmuscled William Saliba and poked the ball across the face of the six-yard box.
The fortuitous equaliser shifted the momentum as Liverpool came out for the second half with more of a cutting edge, with both Luis Diaz and Curtis Jones getting shots away.
Jakub Kiwior replaced left back Oleksandr Zinchenko at the break for the home side, which reacted well as Odegaard saw a shot deflected just wide of Alisson’s right-hand post.
The hosts wanted a penalty when Havertz tangled with Alexis Mac Allister but referee Anthony Taylor was unmoved as VAR sided with the on-field official.
Arsenal retook the lead soon after, with the Liverpool defense this time left red-faced as Alisson and Van Dijk left a clearance to one another, allowing Martinelli to collect and finish into an empty net.
Mac Allister flashed a shot wide as Liverpool looked to respond a second time having already rescued 19 points from losing positions this season.
The early exertion from Arsenal’s forwards saw them tire as both Martinelli and Saka were replaced by Trossard and Reiss Nelson, respectively, for the closing stages.
But it was another substitute, Poland defender Kiwior, who missed a fine chance to make sure of the points when he headed straight at Alisson.
Konate was then dismissed, booked a second time for blocking Trossard. The Belgian scored the third with a low near-post shot that flashed between the legs of Alisson.
Arsenal moved above Manchester City, which is in third place and five points behind Liverpool with two games in hand.
Man United 3-0 over West Ham
Alejandro Garnacho scored Manchester United’s second goal, then perched on an advertising board and beckoned Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo to come and sit alongside him.
It was quite the sight to hearten the home fans at Old Trafford: the 21-year-old Hojlund, the 19-year-old Garnacho and Mainoo, 18, sitting in a line and smiling.
The future might be bright for United after all.
Hojlund marked his 21st birthday by scoring for the fourth straight league game and Garnacho got two goals as United beat West Ham 3-0 in the Premier League for a second victory in three days.
“The future for Manchester United is very good because we have high potential,” United manager Erik ten Hag said. “I think that picture covers the lot — how they are together and want to play football with adventure and enjoyment. If we keep this process going, I am sure we will achieve high levels.
“We are building a team, we signed young players and give them opportunities. This is a process with ups-and-downs and we have to realize this.”
Manchester United's Rasmus Hojlund celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and West Ham United at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. Photo / AP
United jumped above West Ham into sixth place in the standings but there’s still a six-point gap to Tottenham in fifth, which could yet be enough for a Champions League qualification berth for next season.
Especially with Hojlund finally hitting such strong scoring form.
The Denmark striker failed to find the net in his first 14 games in the Premier League after joining from Atalanta in the summer transfer window. Now he cannot stop scoring, his latest coming in the 23rd minute when he collected the ball after Casemiro’s well-timed interception in midfield, created some space for himself on the edge of the area and rifled home a right-foot shot into the bottom corner.
“His confidence is growing,” Ten Hag said of Hojlund. “He is playing better on the ball, he is a target and he is linking up.”
Argentina international Garnacho doubled the lead in the 49th with a shot that deflected off Nayef Aguerd and wrong-footed replacement goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, who came on for Alphonse Areola after he sustained a knock to the head. The winger’s celebration alongside Hojlund and Mainoo, the teenage central midfielder who scored a late winner at Wolverhampton on Thursday, showed three players United might be relying on for years to come.
Garnacho wrapped up the victory by scoring on the counterattack in the 84th after substitute Scott McTominay dispossessed Kalvin Phillips, a loan signing from Manchester City who also came off the bench and didn’t look up to speed after little game time this season.
A negative for United was the sight of Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez being forced off with a right knee injury in the 70th minute. He attempted to play on after appearing to twist his knee when challenging for the ball with West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal.
Martinez has only recently returned after four months out following foot surgery.
“It seems bad,” Ten Hag said. “We have to wait, make the right diagnosis in the coming days and then we will see. Hopefully it is not too bad, we can only pray. He worked so hard to return.”
Wolves beat Chelsea 4-2
Chelsea’s expensively assembled team slumped to a second straight heavy loss in the Premier League, with Wolverhampton following Liverpool in taking apart Mauricio Pochettino’s team in a 4-2 victory.
Chelsea was overrun in a 4-1 hammering at Anfield on Wednesday and was also picked off by Wolves, for whom Brazil striker Matheus Cunha scored a hat trick at Stamford Bridge where jeers rang out at fulltime.
Chelsea, which was quiet in the January transfer market after spending more than $1 billion in three previous windows, dropped to 11th place and below Wolves in another below-par league campaign under the club’s American ownership.
Cole Palmer gave Chelsea the lead in the 19th minute but the hosts were behind at halftime thanks to Cunha’s deflected equalizer — after center-midfielder Moises Caicedo was dispossessed — in the 22nd and an own-goal in the 43rd by Axel Disasi, who stretched to block Rayan Ait-Nouri’s shot and saw the ball spin into the net.
Cunha converted Pedro Neto’s cut-back in the 63rd for 3-1 and calmly stroked home a penalty in the 82nd after he was tripped by Malo Gusto.
Thiago Silva replied for Chelsea in the 86th but Pochettino’s team couldn’t add another despite heavy pressure in 10 minutes of stoppage time.
Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth draw
Gio Reyna made his debut for Nottingham Forest as a second-half substitute in the team’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The United States midfielder came on in the 78th minute, four days after signing from Borussia Dortmund on loan until the end of the season.
Forest had equalized by then, with Callum Hudson-Odoi’s curling 45th-minute strike canceling out the opener in the fifth minute from Justin Kluivert when he scored from close-range at a corner.
Hudson-Odoi’s match came to a premature end after Bournemouth substitute Philip Billing clipped the back of his Achilles, with Billing sent off in the 84th by referee Rebecca Welch, who was booed off the field by the home support.
Dominic Solanke needed one goal to draw level with Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah in the chase to finish as the league’s top scorer, but the Bournemouth striker struggled for chances at Vitality Stadium.
Forest moved two points clear of the relegation zone.
