After an electrifying first half and in awe of Bukayo Saka’s goal, Arsenal fans were elated by the display against Manchester City.
For 45 minutes, Arsenal made the Premier League leader look like an average club. But in the second half things took an all too familiar turn with Arsenal losing 2-1 to City on Saturday.
Arsenal received their 100th red card in three decades in the Premier – more than any other club – when Brazilian defender Gabriel was sent off in the 59th minute for unnecessarily knocking down compatriot Gabriel Jesus near midfield.
The hottest New Year’s Day in London history also saw Arsenal fans warm up after the team collapsed against City.
Arsenal supporters threw plastic bottles and toilet paper rolls at City players as they celebrated Spaniard Rodri’s goal for the win in added time at Emirates Stadium.
City’s somersault to win 2-1 to secure their 11th consecutive Premier League win was completed in the third minute of injury time. This led to Rodri ripping the jersey and sliding across the field in front of the home crowd.
“We struggled a bit in the first half, in the second half we played more as we know,” admitted Rodri. “They had a great game, but luckily we showed our character as a champion.”
While City are 11 points ahead of Chelsea at the top of the standings, fourth-place Arsenal lamenting the collapse.
“We are frustrated with the outcome playing a game like this against one of the best teams in the world,” admitted Arsenal assistant coach Albert Stuivenberg, who replaced Mikel Arrieta on the bench – isolated with COVID-19. “In the end, leaving with no point is frustrating because we should have won the game.”
Totenham gets a result at the end
Davinson Sánchez’s added-time goal gave Tottenham a 1-0 win over Watford and increased their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.
The Colombian defender headed in after a pass from Heung-min Son that passed goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann six minutes into injury time and as Watford suffered their sixth consecutive defeat.
The duel was suspended for several minutes near the end after a fan felt bad in the stands.
Tottenham are two points behind Arsenal. Watford is two units above the relegation zone but has two more games than third-to-last-place Burnley.
West Ham prevents comeback
In the last match of the day, West Ham managed to resist after going to rest 3-0 after a brace by Argentine winger Manuel Lanzini to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 who attempted the comeback near the end.
Michail Antonio met Said Benrahma’s cross to open the scoring in the 22nd minute and Declan Rice gave the pass to Manuel Lanzini in the 25th minute for 2-0. Lanzini himself extended the lead to 3-0 from a penalty.
However, in a tense close, Odsonne Edouard narrowed the gap at 83 and Michael Olise scored again at 90.
West Ham celebrated two years of David Moyes at the helm with victory and are one point out of fourth place in the standings.
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