London, April 13 (IANS) Having caused a sensation in European football earlier in the week, an Arsenal side with one eye on next week’s Champions League return leg in Madrid was held 1-1 by Brentford at home in the Premier League.
Thomas Partey, playing at right back, surged through to put Arsenal ahead on Saturday, but Yoane Wissa’s acrobatic finish saw Brentford save a point in a game where Arsenal had more control, but neither side created many clear-cut chances.
Nottingham Forest suffered a setback as Abdoulaye Doucoure’s 94th-minute goal saw Everton claim all three points at the City Ground, reports Xinhua. Everton defended well and took the win after a swift counter-attack ended with Dwight McNeil setting up the only goal of the game.
In another match on Saturday, Aston Villa left it late before taking what was ultimately a comfortable 3-0 win away to already-relegated Southampton, despite Marco Asensio missing two penalties for the visiting team.
Villa looked flat in the first half after its midweek Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, but never looked back after Ollie Watkins opened the scoring in the 73rd minute, with Donyell Malen doubling the lead three minutes later and John McGinn rounding off the win in injury time.
Elsewhere, Leicester City avoided a 10th consecutive league defeat with a 2-2 draw away to Brighton.
Earlier in the evening, defending champions Manchester City moved back into the top-four of the Premier League with a 5-2 win at home to Crystal Palace, who travelled to Manchester with seven wins from eight games and looked to be on the way to another win after Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards put the visiting team 2-0 up after 21 minutes.
It could have made the lead 3-0, but a goal was ruled out for offside before Kevin de Bruyne pulled City back into the match after 33 minutes with a free kick that went in off the post and the Belgian, who will leave the club at the end of the season, went on to give a vintage performance.
Omar Marmoush equalized in the 36th minute, and Pep Guardiola’s side grabbed the game in the second half with goals from Mateo Kovacic, James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly, as City looked more like the all-conquering side of recent campaigns.
–IANS
bsk/
