London, May 4: This was not the way Arsenal wanted to prepare for the Champions League semifinal against Paris Saint-Germain.
Ahead of Wednesday’s crucial second leg in Paris, Mikel Arteta’s team squandered another lead and lost to Bournemouth 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.
PSG also lost by the same score against Strasbourg but the context was different.
PSG, leading 1-0 after the first leg against Arsenal, has already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title and coach Luis Enrique rested front-line players.
While Arsenal’s title hopes were ended last week, its bid to be runner-up for the third year in a row was under threat from Manchester City and Newcastle, and even Champions League qualification is not yet certain.
Defeat at home to Bournemouth continued its alarming domestic slump in the second half of the season.
Arsenal has won only three of its last 10 league games and just one of the last five.
Blowing the lead against Bournemouth was the fourth time in five league games that Arsenal has dropped points from a winning position.
Declan Rice opened the scoring but Bournemouth turned the game on its head after the break.
Dean Hujsen headed the visitor level from a corner and Evanilson poked in the winner from close range eight minutes later.
Bournemouth completed a league double against Arsenal this season, following a 2-0 win in the reverse game in October.
Arsenal is three points ahead of City with three rounds to go. Fourth-placed Newcastle is five behind Arsenal with a game in hand.
Man United lose again
Manchester United slumped to a club record-extending 16th Premier League loss this season on Sunday.
United was beaten 4-3 at Brentford in a wild, end-to-end game played in between matches against Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League semifinals.
United manager Ruben Amorim fielded the club’s youngest ever Premier League lineup according to average age, with Europe clearly the priority this season ahead of improving his team’s woeful league position of 15th. United, on 39 points, is already certain to set its worst-ever total in the Premier League, as well as record its lowest finish.
More important for Amorim will be protecting the 3-0 lead over Bilbao from the first leg in Spain going into the return match at Old Trafford on Thursday.
One positive for United was the return from injury of winger Amad Diallo, who scored the third goal in stoppage time as the visitors came from 4-1 down but couldn’t find an equalizer.
Newcastle salvage draw
Champions League-chasing Newcastle needed an 89th-minute penalty to salvage a 1-1 draw at Brighton. A first-half goal by Brighton winger Yankuba Minteh — a former Newcastle player — looked like seeing off his old club, only for Alexander Isak to convert a late penalty.
Newcastle could have climbed to third place but now is in danger of being caught by teams below in the race for a top-five finish.
Newcastle is in fourth place and three points ahead of Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa.
Chelsea beat Liverpool
The race for Champions League qualification got even tighter in the Premier League after Chelsea beat recently crowned champion Liverpool.
Liverpool’s players were afforded a guard of honour by Chelsea as they came onto the field at Stamford Bridge for their first match as champions. They didn’t really play like it, with Chelsea running out a 3-1 winner thanks to a third-minute goal by Enzo Fernandez, an own-goal by Jarell Quansah in the 56th and a stoppage-time penalty by Cole Palmer.
Virgil van Dijk’s header made it 2-1 at the time but Liverpool was off the pace for much of the game.
The win lifted fifth-placed Chelsea into a tie for 63 points with fourth-placed Newcastle
Rare win
Leicester won for the first time since January by beating last-placed Southampton 2-0.
With both teams already relegated, there was little but pride at stake at King Power Stadium and Leicester gave its fans some rare cheer with only its fifth league win.
Club great Jamie Vardy – leaving at the end of the season – scored in the 17th and Jordan Ayew added the second from a free kick just before halftime. Leicester’s last win was on January 26 against Tottenham.
Southampton’s 28th loss of a miserable campaign could see it equal Derby’s record for the lowest points total in a Premier League. Derby ended the 2008-09 campaign with 11 points.
With three rounds remaining, Southampton has 11 points.
Ipswich comeback
Relegated Ipswich fought back from 2-0 down to draw with Everton 2-2.
Beto and Dwight McNeil put Everton in control in the Merseyside club’s penultimate game at Goodison Park before it moves to a new stadium. But Julio Enciso’s stunning long-range effort before the break sparked a comeback for Ipswich. Substitute George Hirst levelled with a far post header. (AP)
