Sports

Arsenal, Man City remain neck-and-neck; Liverpool drop points

Arsenal, Man City remain neck-and-neck; Liverpool drop points

Sports Desk, Feb 25 (EFE).- Premier League leaders Arsenal eked out a 1-0 win against Leicester City on Saturday and defending champions Manchester City crushed Bournemouth 4-1 to keep pace with the Gunners, while struggling Liverpool managed only a scoreless draw against Crystal Palace.

City are just 2 points behind Arsenal, but the London side have a game in hand and the April 26 match between the sides at the Etihad looks likely to be decisive in the title race.

Liverpool, coming off a devastating Champions League loss to Real Madrid, climbed to 7th place on 36 points and will see the distance to fourth increase to 9 points if Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelsea on Sunday.

Against the Foxes in Leicester, Arsenal had 66 percent possession and outshot the hosts 10-1, but the first half ended 0-0, as each team had a goal disallowed.

Leandro Trossard appeared to put the visitors ahead in the 28th minute, but VAR detected an Arsenal foul against goalkeeper Danny Ward and the goal was taken down.

Leicester’s Kelechi Iheanacho put the ball in the net three minutes later only to see the offside flag go up.

Less than a minute into the second half, Gabriel Martinelli beat Ward to give Arsenal the lead and one goal proved to be enough to claim all 3 points.

Man City had a much easier time of it on the South Coast facing second-from-bottom Bournemouth. The visitors led 3-0 at the break on goals by Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden.

With his 27th league goal of the season, Haaland set a new single-season Premier League scoring mark for City, surpassing club legend Sergio Agüero.

Six minutes into the second half, Bournemouth defender Chris Mepham’s attempt to block a strike by World Cup winner Alvarez ended with the ball in his own net to make it 4-0 for City.

Jefferson Lerma got a consolation goal for the Cherries in the 83rd minute.

Jürgen Klopp’s men had most of the ball and the lion’s share of the chances in the clash at London’s Selhurst Park with 12th-place Palace and still had to settle for just a point.

Both sides had shots bounce off the woodwork in the first half, Diogo Jota for the Reds and Jean-Philippe Mateta for the hosts, while Jota and Mohamed Salah also forced saves from Palace keeper Vicente Guaita.

Salah hit the cross-bar early in the second half and Joel Matip tested Guaita in the 55th minute, which turned out to be the last serious chance for either team.

EFE jjl-apa/dr

Related Articles

Back to top button