While You Were Asleep: Arsenal fight back to extend Premier League lead to 7 points, Tottenham draw 2-2 with Brentford and Liverpool beat Aston Villa 3-1
Arsenal showed how to fight back on Boxing Day, traditionally a busy time in English soccer, beating West Ham 3-1 to stretch its lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points.
Newcastle moved second with a 3-0 win at Leicester on Monday, pushing defending champion Manchester City down to third.
Said Benrahma’s 27th-minute penalty kick gave David Moyes’ West Ham a 1-0 lead at halftime after the Gunners had a spot kick disallowed VAR on the stroke of the interval.
🌟#ARSWHU pic.twitter.com/tmljlvcNDY
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 26, 2022
But Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta saw his team move up through the gears after the break with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli scoring with fine finishes at the start of the second period.
Eddie Nketiah sealed the victory in front of former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger finishing off a slick move to fill the void of the injured Gabriel Jesus and earn Arsenal a 10th straight home win in the Premier League.
Harry Kane scores
The composure 🤌The finish 👌 pic.twitter.com/xY0BAu22y1
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 26, 2022
Harry Kane, who returned to the Premier League after missing a penalty in England’s World Cup quarterfinal loss to France two weeks ago, scored a goal to help fourth-place Tottenham come back from a two-goal deficit in a 2-2 draw with Brentford.
Kane shrugged off chants of “You let your country down” from a section of the Brentford fans. He headed in a cross from Clement Lenglet in the 65th. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg equalized six minutes later for Tottenham.
Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney scored for Brentford.
Liverpool beat Aston Villa 3-1
Liverpool beat Aston Villa 3-1 for its third straight league win and stayed sixth, a point behind Manchester United. Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk struck in the first half at Villa Park before Stefan Bajcetic scored near the end of the second.
Liverpool’s third straight victory moved the club five points adrift of the Champions League spots.
“We have to be the pain in the backside for everyone,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said. “We are not in the best position, there is dance between us and other teams, we know that. The first two or three are maybe too far away. If they win all their games we have no chance.”
HALF-TIME Aston Villa 0-2 Liverpool
Chances haven’t been hard to come in this match, with Liverpool the more clinical of the two sides, leading courtesy of goals from Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk #AVLLIV pic.twitter.com/2zF8TYwMDp
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 26, 2022
In other games, Wolverhampton manager Julen Lopetegui marked his Premier League debut with a dramatic stoppage-time 2-1 win at Everton. The defeat ramped up the pressure on Everton coach Frank Lampard. Substitute Rayan Ait-Nouri scored on the counterattack in the fifth minute of added time. Wolves moved off the bottom of the table and within a point of 17th-place Everton.
Brighton beat struggling Southampton 3-1 at St. Mary’s and trails Liverpool one point. Southampton lost its fourth straight league game and dropped to last place.
-AP Inputs
