London (AFP)
Arsenal confirmed its hold on to the top of the English Premier League, by defeating its guest, Bournemouth, 3-0, and Manchester City, the “defending champion,” continued to tighten the noose around it, by sweeping its guest, Wolverhampton, 5-1, including a “super hat-trick” for its Norwegian top scorer, Erling Haaland, in the thirty-sixth stage of the league. English Football.
Arsenal, searching for its first title since 2004, raised its score at the top of the standings to 83 points, one point ahead of Manchester City, which has a postponed match with Tottenham to play on May 14.
The London team, runner-up last season, which entered the match knowing that it had no margin for error, in light of the presence of “City” in its wake, has continued its wonderful levels, since losing to its guest Aston Villa 0-3 last month, and achieved its fourth victory in a row. But he faces a huge challenge to maintain his lead over the “defending champion” in the last three years, which has not yet lost in 32 matches in all competitions.
At the Emirates Stadium, it seemed, from the moments of the first match, that Spanish coach Mikel Arteta’s men were determined to avoid any incomplete “push” in the final meters of the season, and indeed, they dominated, and had 14 shots, including 4 directly on goal in the first half.
Irish goalkeeper Mark Travers, who saved more than one chance in the first half, awarded a penalty kick after he obstructed German striker Kai Havertz, and Bukayo Saka successfully converted it, giving Arsenal the expected lead before the end of the first half (45).
Arteta praised the level of Havertz, who was subjected to much criticism at the beginning of the season because of his performance, and he became a pivotal player in the Spanish coach’s squad. He said, “Everything he did was intelligence, timing, movements, the way he kept the ball, how he pressed, how he dealt with other players and the level of play.” “It was amazing today.”
He continued, “We are now closer to where we were yesterday, and we hope to bring the title here (Emirates Stadium).”
Arsenal waited until the 70th minute to reassure their supporters, through a second goal, which carried the expectations of Leandro Trossard, raising his score to 11 goals in the league this season, and 16 in various competitions, when Rice received the ball on the outskirts of the area, before turning around himself with great skill, and passing it. The Belgian striker shot it to the left of the Bournemouth goalkeeper.
Rice added the third goal, following a pass from Brazilian substitute Gabriel Jesus, who followed it into the goal (90+7).
In the second match at the Etihad Stadium, Haaland led his “City” team to victory over Wolverhampton by scoring a “super hat-trick.”
The top scorer regained his scoring prowess, scoring more than one goal in one match for the first time since his special hat-trick against Luton Town, who lost 2-6 on February 27 in the FA Cup final.
The Citizens raised their score to 82 points, with their sixth consecutive victory in the league.
Haaland opened the scoring from a penalty kick, after Algerian Rayan Ait-Nouri collided with Croatian forward Joshko Gvardiol (12).
Haaland tried to add the second with a header, following a pass from the Portuguese Bernardo Silva, but the latter’s compatriot, goalkeeper Jose Sa, blocked it brilliantly (18).
But the Norwegian returned from the same place and hit the ball stronger with his head, capitalizing on the Spaniard Rodri’s cross (35).
Haaland completed the hat-trick with a penalty kick, which he took himself, after being blocked by Gabonese Mario Lemina (45 + 3). Phil Foden tried to score the fourth quickly at the beginning of the second half, but his shot was not strong enough (49).
The goal came from the visitors through South Korean Hwang Hee-chan, who shot “on the fly,” taking advantage of an incorrect exit from Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson, who was unable to clear the cross (53).
Haaland responded quickly with a fourth personal goal, and in a more beautiful way than the first three goals, when he shot from the outskirts of the area into the goalkeeper’s right corner (54).
The giant striker raised his league goalscoring tally this season to 25 goals, five goals ahead of Chelsea striker Cole Palmer.
Three minutes after he came on for Haaland, Argentine Julián Alvarez scored fifth (85).
Newcastle United temporarily rose to sixth place by sweeping away Burnley 4-1.
Callum Wilson (19), Sean Longstaff (45), Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes (40), Swedish Alexander Isak (55), who also missed a penalty kick (52) scored for Newcastle, and Irishman Dara O’Shea scored for the visitors (86).
With its second win in a row, Newcastle raised its score to 56 points, temporarily two points ahead of Manchester United, which will face its host Crystal Palace on Monday at the end of the stage.
On the other hand, Burnley suffered a new blow, and remained in nineteenth place, penultimate with 24 points, five points behind Nottingham Forest, seventeenth, who beat their host Sheffield United 3-1.
Callum Hudson-Odoi (27 and 65) and Ryan Yates (51) scored for Nottingham, and Chilean Ben Brereton Diaz scored from a penalty kick for Sheffield (17), and his Bosnian colleague Anil Ahmadkhodzik also received a red card (90 + 5).
As for Sheffield, whose relegation was confirmed in the last stage, they suffered their 26th loss at the bottom of the standings.
In turn, Fulham settled for a goalless draw with its host Brentford without finding a way to victory for the third match in a row.
The team temporarily rose to twelfth place with 44 points, while Brentford remained in sixteenth place with 36 points.
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