Premier League: Arsenal edge Man United in five goal thriller; Haaland sets new goalscoring record
Eddie Nketiah scored a brace – including a 90th-minute winner – as Arsenal passed a massive test of their Premier League title credentials with an enthralling 3-2 win over Manchester United at the Emirates.
In a magnificent watch between two phenomenal attacking forces, Nketiah and Bukayo Saka cancelled out Marcus Rashford’s sublime opener before Lisandro Martinez levelled the scores.
However, Nketiah intelligently flicked home his second of the match with minutes remaining to spark pandemonium in North London, as Arsenal moved onto 50 points from their opening 19 games of the season.
Playing like two teams with title ambitions from the get-go, both Arsenal and Man United played their part in a frenetic start to the game, although sloppiness came into play for the hosts.
Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli in particular were guilty of some misplaced passes, and the former was left run ragged by Rashford for the game’s opening goal in the 17th minute.
The England international intercepted Partey’s pass, received the ball back from Bruno Fernandes and weaved his way past the Arsenal man before finding the bottom corner with a brilliant strike from outside the area.
While celebrating in front of the Arsenal fans, Rashford witnessed the Gooners roar their team on for a response, which nearly came in the 22nd minute as Martinelli fired just wide from Saka’s short corner.
However, only two minutes later, Granit Xhaka whipped in an inch-perfect ball from the left to the back post, where Nketiah caught Aaron Wan-Bissaka napping and headed home the equaliser.
Mikel Arteta’s side were galvanised by their goal, but Man United continued to pose a sustained threat on the break, as Scott McTominay saw a goalbound curler beaten away by Aaron Ramsdale in the 28th minute.
Forever scurrying up and down the touchline and reacting angrily to a challenge on Saka from Luke Shaw, Arteta’s protests earned him a yellow card from referee Anthony Taylor in the 33rd minute, and the Spaniard made a smart change at half time to avoid any further disciplinary infringements – hooking the booked Ben White for Takehiro Tomiyasu.
The Premier League leaders started the second half well on top, and anything that Rashford could do, Saka could do better, as the 21-year-old cut in from the right and fired a sensational long-range effort into the far corner in the 53rd minute to send Arsenal ahead.
The battle for supremacy between the two English wingers would not cease, as Rashford forced Ramsdale into a brilliant save down low only three minutes later after the Man United man twisted and turned Tomiyasu inside out.
Gareth Southgate was in attendance to witness the Three Lions crop steal the show, but Ramsdale would not have impressed the England boss in the 59th minute, as he came to claim a corner but could only parry the ball into the path of Martinez, whose looping header found the net despite the best efforts of Gabriel Magalhaes.
Nearly scoring a carbon copy of his wonder strike, Saka’s deflected shot off Christian Eriksen struck the post on its way behind in the 70th minute, as Arsenal huffed and puffed for a winner in the dying embers.
Arteta sent on Leandro Trossard for his debut as Arsenal ramped up the pressure, but it was Nketiah who forced David de Gea into a fantastic reaction save down low in the 84th minute.
The pressure would eventually pay off for the Gunners, as Oleksandr Zinchenko’s cross from the left in the 90th minute found Martin Odegaard, whose scuffed shot fell kindly for Nketiah to backheel home.
The Englishman had just kept himself onside, and Arsenal survived a few minutes of injury time to post a special win in front of their own fans, re-establishing a five-point lead over Manchester City – who have played a game more – at the top of the table in the process.
Arsenal are next in action away to Manchester City in their FA Cup fourth-round tie next weekend while Man United take on Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final on Wednesday.
Norwegian goalscoring phenomenon Erling Haaland fired his fourth Premier League hat-trick of a remarkable season to earn Manchester City a comfortable 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
City dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead after Haaland headed home from a pinpoint cross from Kevin De Bruyne in the 40th minute.
It was a matter of time until City got that crucial second goal, with Haaland converting from the spot following a foul on Ilkay Gundogan five minutes after the break. The Norwegian then quickly completed his treble to put the game to bed.
Haaland broke former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of being the fastest player to score four Premier League hat-tricks with Haaland’s four coming in 19 games, Van Nistelrooy’s in 65.
City cruised to victory from there on in to stay five points behind league leaders Arsenal as Wolbes stay 17th.
Haaland had in fact endured a mini goal drought of three City appearances in all competitions prior to last week’s strike against Tottenham Hotspur, but he certainly brought his shooting boots for the visit of struggling Wolves.
The home side had a host of chances to break the deadlock before Haaland pounced with clinical precision five minutes before the interval, with his second expertly put away from the spot.
That penalty took him to 30 goals in all competitions with half the season left to play, before adding one more to his tally after a dreadful error from Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa.
His remarkable 25-goal league haul from 19 matches would have been enough to win the Premier League golden boot in each of the previous four seasons. Dixie Dean’s record of 60 goals scored in a single league season, set in 1928, remains in sight.
Leeds United and Brentford share the spoils after the two sides played out a goalless draw at Elland Road.
Neither side were able to establish any dominance in an uneventful first half that produced very little goalmouth action.
Leeds looked the most likely to find a winner after the break, but they were unable to find a way past an inspired David Raya, who made a number of crucial saves to help his side claim a point
The result will frustrate the hosts, who have failed to win any of their last six games, although they move up one place to 15th position in the Premier League table.
While Leeds are one point above the drop zone, the draw lifts Thomas Frank’s side into eighth place, leaving them one point adrift of the top six.
