London, Feb 8 (IANS) Arsenal overcame stubborn first-half resistance from Sunderland to strengthen its grip at the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 home win on Saturday, moving nine points clear of both Manchester City and Aston Villa.
Leandro Trossard set up Martin Zubimendi to break Sunderland’s resistance in the 42nd minute, and Kai Havertz then demonstrated the depth of Mikel Arteta’s attacking options when the German teed up Viktor Gyokeres to double the lead shortly after the Swede had come off the bench. Gyokeres enjoyed his second-half cameo with his second of the match to make it 3-0 in injury time, reported Xinhua.
Manchester City will face a difficult trip to Liverpool on Saturday.
Aston Villa was held to a 1-1 draw in an entertaining match away to Bournemouth. Unai Emery’s side took the lead in the 22nd minute when Jadon Sancho set up Morgan Rogers, but Rayan equalized for Bournemouth in the 55th minute.
Manchester United’s revival under Michael Carrick continues with a 2-0 win at home to Tottenham. Bryan Mbeumo opened the scoring in the 38th minute and Bruno Fernandes sealed the win nine minutes from time from a Diogo Dalot assist. Spurs had been reduced to 10 men in the 29th minute when Cristian Romero, who has been critical of the club’s transfer policy, was sent off.
Cole Palmer scored a hat-trick in Chelsea’s 3-1 win away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, scoring penalties after 13 and 35 minutes and adding a third just three minutes later. Tolu Arokodare scored for Wolverhampton in the 53rd minute but there was no further change to the scoreline as Chelsea made it four consecutive league wins under Liam Rosenior.
Brentford won a thrilling game 3-2 away to Newcastle United as the score swung both ways. Sven Botman put Newcastle ahead before Vitaly Janelt leveled. Igor Thiago’s penalty gave Brentford the lead in first-half injury time, Bruno Guimaraes replied with a spot-kick to make it 2-2 in the 79th minute, but Dango Ouattara struck a late winner to lift Brentford up to seventh.
Everton came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 in a match featuring two own goals. Vitalii Mykolenko diverted Raul Jimenez’s shot into his own net, but Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall equalized with 15 minutes left before Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno spilled the ball into his own goal two minutes from time, with the hosts’ appeals for a foul waved away.
West Ham kept its survival hopes intact with a 2-0 win away to Burnley, who looks increasingly doomed after extending its winless run to 16 matches. Crysencio Summerville scored after 13 minutes and Valentin Castellanos added a second in the 26th minute, leaving Burnley unable to recover.
Leeds United took a big step towards assuring salvation on Friday night with a 3-1 win at home to Nottingham Forest. Jayden Bogle and Noah Okafor struck in the 26th and 30th minutes, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin added a third early in the second half, with Ilia Gruev providing two assists.
–IANS
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