Premier League: Arsenal beat Man United 1-0 to take title race with Man City

VaselineMay 13, 2024

1 3 minutes read

Premier League: Arsenal beat Man United 1-0 to take title race with Man City

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — It’s going down to the wire.

Arsenal ensured the Premier League title race goes into the final day of the season after returning to the top of the table with a 1-0 win at Manchester United on Sunday.

Leandro Trossard’s 20th-minute winner at Old Trafford means the Londoners will take defending champions Manchester City into the final round of games next Sunday.

“Today we wanted to really knock (on) that door and open that box of dreams and live the last and last day of the season in front of our people with the opportunity to win the Premier League,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. “Everything is at stake. We’ve had no margin for error since January.”

Anything but a win for Arsenal against United could have helped City clinch the title with victory at Tottenham on Tuesday. Arteta’s team duly delivered and went one point ahead.

Arsenal will host Everton in the final round when City are at home to West Ham after Tuesday’s game at Spurs.

For now, Arsenal have done their best to keep the pressure on Pep Guardiola’s side – improving on last season when they suffered a late collapse to allow City to wrap up a third successive title with three games to spare remaining.

Although the title is still in City’s hands, they will need to win their remaining two games to be sure of a fourth consecutive English league title.

Arsenal are aiming to be crowned champions for the first time since 2004, when Arsene Wenger’s side went an entire league campaign unbeaten to earn the nickname ‘The Invincibles’.

The current class cannot match that feat, but with 27 wins and 89 goals he set two new club records in the Premier League era.

“This is not progress, this is history,” Arteta said. “It’s very hard to do, especially in the league we’re playing in now.”

The visit to Old Trafford always looked like Arsenal’s biggest test going into the game, and history has not been on their side, having won just once in their last 16 league games at United’s home ground. Despite that record, they were still favorites to overcome a United side who were mercilessly exposed by Crystal Palace earlier in the week when they were hammered 4-0 at Selhurst Park.

Casemiro, who received heavy criticism for his performance as a makeshift centre-back against Palace, was again at fault for Arsenal’s winner when he was late to push and play Kai Havertz. The German striker took advantage and broke into the box before crossing for Trossard to convert from close range.

With so much at stake, the pressure seemed to get to Arsenal’s players, who were unable to build on that early lead and instead conceded long periods of possession to United.

However, United looked unlikely to open up their opposition and Arsenal came closest to extending their lead through second-half substitute Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice.

UNITED SLUMP

Defeat for United was the latest blow for under-pressure manager Ten Hag, whose side lost for the 14th time in the league this season and extended a damaging run that has seen them win just one of their last eight games in England’s first division.

While the Ten Hag look forward to the FA Cup final against City at the end of the season, there was little to distract co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, who was in the crowd alongside Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK Labor Party. encourage.

With two league games remaining, United are eighth in the table and at risk of missing out on European football next season. United have never finished below seventh in the Premier League era.

But Ten Hag believes he still has the support of the club’s fans.

“They understand where we are and where this club is. We have so many injuries in key areas that (the fans) don’t get what (they) deserve, but they understand that and that’s why they’re behind the team,” he said. “I think that’s why they’re with us, we’re united and hopefully we can pay them back in the future.”

Championship Playoffs

Norwich and Leeds drew 0-0 in the first leg Championship playoff semi-final Sunday. And there was nothing to separate West Bromwich Albion from Southampton in the other semi-final after another goalless draw.

Leeds host Norwich in the second leg on Thursday and Southampton are at home to West Brom the following day. All four teams will be hoping they can produce more creativity and progress in the second leg to secure a place in the final at Wembley on May 26.