LONDON, March 13: Arsenal reclaimed its five-point lead in the Premier League by outclassing Fulham in a 3-0 win on Sunday.
Gabriel Magalhães, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard scored first-half goals at Craven Cottage to secure a fifth straight victory in the league for Arsenal.
Leandro Trossard provided the assist for all three goals.Second-place Manchester City had applied pressure on Mikel Arteta’s team by winning 1-0 at Crystal Palace on Saturday, briefly reducing the gap to two points.
Arsenal and City have 11 games left.There was further good news for Arsenal, with Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus coming off the bench in the 77th for his first appearance since undergoing surgery on Dec. 6 on a medial collateral ligament injury sustained during the World Cup.
Arsenal had already had a goal disallowed for offside following a video review by the time Gabriel headed in a left-wing corner from Trossard in the 21st minute.
Toons beat Wolves
Miguel Almiron came off the bench to reignite Newcastle’s Champions League qualification ambitions with the clinching goal in a 2-1 win over Wolverhampton on Sunday.
Newcastle looked like extending its winless run in the league to six games when Wolves substitute Hwang Hee-chan canceled out Alexander Isak’s first-half opener at St. James’ Park.
Wolves’ players were convinced Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope should have picked up a second red card in three games after a clumsy first-half challenge on Raul Jimenez, and Almiron’s 11th goal of the season only rubbed salt into the wound.It was just a second win in nine league outings for Newcastle to climb above Liverpool into fifth place.
Newcastle is four points behind fourth-place Tottenham and has two games in hand.
Said Benrahma’s penalty earned West Ham a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa and lifted his team back out of the Premier League’s relegation zone on Sunday.
Hammers hold Villa
The Hammers fell behind to Ollie Watkins’ header but Benrahma replied from the spot after Lucas Paqueta was fouled.
West Ham started the day in the bottom three after Bournemouth’s stunning win over Liverpool on Saturday. A victory would have lifted the team into 14th place in a congested bottom half of the standings, but West Ham was unable to find a winner with striker Danny Ings drawing a blank against his old club.
Nonetheless, a draw moved West Ham up to 17th, ahead of Bournemouth on goal difference.
They stretched its unbeaten streak against midtable Villa to 10 matches going back to 2015. (AP)
