Sports
Arsenal Extends Lead Over Spurs With Win Over Spurs
(CTN News) – Despite a nervous second period in an electric derby atmosphere, Arsenal held off local rivals Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 away from home to move four points clear.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s own goal and Bukayo Saka’s and Kai Havertz‘ efforts put Arsenal ahead at halftime, and the Gunners won despite a Cristian Romero goal and a Son Heung-min penalty.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners moved further ahead of Manchester City, who have two games in hand and visit struggling Nottingham Forest later on Sunday.
Despite playing 35 matches with three games left, Liverpool is in third place, a point behind City.
As Tottenham remain seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, despite having two games in hand, their chances of playing Champions League football next season have been weakened.
Arsenal built such a commanding lead that it seemed as though they would humiliate their arch-rivals but the players and their fans were happy to hear the final whistle.
Towards the end, I was praying. During the game, there was a lot of emotion. Playing against this team is tough, and it’s a great place to come. Sky Sports spoke with Arteta, who reached 100 Premier League victories as Arsenal’s manager.
A corner headed back into the Arsenal goal by midfielder Hojbjerg after 15 minutes was the perfect start for the Gunners hoping to boost their title challenge.
From a cross by James Maddison, Tottenham’s Romero missed the post after going behind.
Micky van de Ven put the ball past David Raya after Pedro Porro’s strike deflected to him, and the stadium erupted, but VARÂ ruled the goal out for offside after a long delay.
A strike in Saka
In the half hour mark, Arsenal extended their lead when Saka calmly finished a counterattack after Spurs’ Dejan Kulusevski slipped.
It took Havertz only a minute and a corner to add the third that eluded the home defense. The visitors were in a frenzy.
After falling behind 3-0 to bitter rivals Arsenal in 1959, Tottenham was shell-shocked.
Pape Matar Sarr replaced Rodrigo Bentancur at halftime, and Spurs pulled a goal back through Romero just past the hour after Raya played the ball straight to him, and the Argentine found the bottom corner to lift the crowd.
Declan Rice kicked Ben Davies inside the area in the 87th minute when the Arsenal midfielder attempted to clear the ball. Son stepped up to convert the spot-kick as the crowd erupted.
Although Spurs piled on the pressure, they were not able to penetrate the Arsenal defence and were left to celebrate the win and a healthy lead in the thrilling title race.
Ange Postecoglou was left to rue his side’s mistakes all season long.
Unlike us, they (Arsenal) handle details well.
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