Week 13 of the English Premier League sees Arsenal strengthen their position as a potential top-four candidate with an away win at Bournemouth, and Huddersfield move off the foot of the table with an away win at Wolves.
Everton.
Not bad.
You’re on a decent run, but the bookies are usually spot on with these things, and the 40/1 odds they’ve given you to qualify for the Champions League means you’re out of the running.
Liverpool.
If you forced these two teams to play all of their home games on salt and sand for the rest of the season, they would still qualify with ease.
Two spots.
Spurs.
Chelsea.
Man Utd.
Arsenal.
Before the Red Devils began sharpening their pitchforks in preparation for a raid on the Crystal Palace, Jose Mourinho told the press that his fiery little fellas could make it into the top four by the end of the season. 90-minutes and zero goals later, the Old Trafford faithful booed him off the pitch, like a belly dancer minus a belly button.
Step forward Unai Emery and Arsenal.
An away tie against Bournemouth seemed a much tougher challenge than a home game against Crystal Palace.
Could they take advantage of United’s failure to pick up a much-needed three points, with a victory over Eddie Howe’s top six hopefuls?
Yes.
Bournemouth 1 v 2 Arsenal
Arsenal extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 17-matches after a challenging 2-1 victory at the Vitality Stadium. It was a crucial win for the Gunners after drawing four of their last five matches. Emery switched to a back three with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang playing as the lone striker after Alexandre Lacazette missed the game through injury.
Bournemouth began the brightest and should have been one-up after the linesman incorrectly ruled out David Brooks’ early strike after some neat interplay with Joshua King.
VAR, where are you?
Then Arsenal came close to taking the lead when Lucas Torreira robbed a Bournemouth midfielder before unleashed a screamer from distance that hit the foot of the post. Arsenal still had hope when the rebound fell at the feet of Alex Iwobi, but the Nigerian midfielder blasted it over the bar.
Aubameyang nearly capitalised on some slack defending from a corner only to blaze over from the far post, and moments later, the Gunners were head.
Sead Kolasinac fired a low cross into the box after some brilliant work on the left, and the Bournemouth midfielder, Jefferson Lerma, arrived in the box like an express train to volley the ball past Asmir Begović for one of the strangest own goals you will see this season.
Iwobi had a chance to make it two before the break only for Begović to pull off an outstanding save, and then Bournemouth got back into it with the last kick of the half, when Brooks found King, and the Norwegian star celebrated his return from injury by rifling a shot into the top corner of the net.
Arsenal’s winner came in the 67th minute.
Once again Kolasinac was the creator, firing in a low cross, that found Aubameyang’s outstretched foot as the Gabon international flew into the six-yard box unmarked. It was the former Borrusia Dortmund’s eighth goal of the season, making him the joint-top scorer in the Premier League alongside Sergio Aguero. To underscore his importance to Arsenal, Aubameyang has been involved in 23 goals in his 26 league appearances since joining the London outfit in January.
Bournemouth had chances to snatch a point; Junior Stanislas couldn’t sort his feet out when presented with an opportunity from six-yards, and Lerma nearly made amends for his stunning OG by smashing the post with a long-range effort.
In the end, the points went to Arsenal, and that takes them within a point of a Champions League qualification spot, five points more than Everton, and six more than Man Utd.
Bournemouth drops to eighth after losing three consecutive games, and it’s going to be a challenging end to 2018 for Eddie Howe’s men with Man City, Liverpool, Spurs and Man Utd in the pipeline before the end of the year, along with a Football League Cup Quarter-Final away at Chelsea.
In Sunday’s other result, Huddersfield shot up the league standings from bottom to 14th, after an Aaron Mooy double saw them beat struggling Wolves at Molyneux.
Here are the results in full.
Results
West Ham 0 v 4 Man City
Everton 1 v 0 Cardiff
Brighton 1 v 1 Leicester
Man Utd 0 v 0 Crystal Palace
Watford 0 v 3 Liverpool
Spurs 3 v 1 Chelsea
Wolves 0 v 2 Huddersfield
Bournemouth 1 v 2 Arsenal
To Be Played
Burnley v Newcastle (Mon)
Premier League Table
1. Man City – 35
2. Liverpool – 33
3. Spurs – 30
4. Chelsea – 28
5. Arsenal – 27
6. Everton – 22
7. Man Utd – 21
8. Bournemouth – 20
9. Watford – 20
10. Leicester – 18
11. Wolves – 16
12. Brighton – 15
13. West Ham – 12
14. Huddersfield – 10
15. Newcastle – 9
16. Crystal Palace – 9
17. Burnley – 9
18. Southampton – 8
19. Cardiff – 8
20. Fulham – 8
Premier League Winner Odds
Man City 2/9
Liverpool – 4/1
Premier League Relegation Odds
Cardiff 4/9
Huddersfield 1/2
Fulham 4/5
Burnley 6/5
Southampton 7/2
Top 4 Finish
Man City 1/1000
Liverpool 1/50
Chelsea 1/3
Spurs 4/11
Arsenal 7/4
Man Utd 4/1
Top Goalscorer
Harry Kane (7 goals) – 11/4
Sergio Agüero (8 goals) – 5/2
Mohamed Salah (7 goals) – 4/1
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (8 goals) – 9/1
Eden Hazard (7 goals) – 10/1
Next Manager to Leave His Position
Mark Hughes – 1/2
Jose Mourinho – 15/2
Neil Warnock – 11/1
Roy Hodgson – 12/1
