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Celtic had to dig deep into their superior resources for a win over Aberdeen that interim manager Martin O’Neill suggests “keeps us, at least for a little while, in the title race”.

Left-back Kieran Tierney suggested in midweek that the trophy winning experience of their players and team boss could give Celtic the edge in a four-horse race for the Scottish title.

In recent weeks, late goals have come to Celtic’s rescue time and again.

After Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Pittodrie, O’Neill again hailed the “resilience” and “fight” that secured a narrow but “big win” over Aberdeen.

O’Neill called for Celtic to avoid the slow starts that have left them facing uphill tasks in recent weeks.

And Tierney responded with their fastest Premiership goal of the season after less than five minutes gone at Pittodrie.

The 28-year-old left-back’s game time has been carefully managed since he returned from an injury plagued spell with Arsenal last summer.

However, Tierney was back to something like his best at Pittodrie, with more goal attempts than anyone else on the pitch and winning every duel in which he competed.

James Forrest was one of the highly decorated players picked out by Tierney in midweek and the 34-year-old played a vital cameo role at Pittodrie.

His low cross for fellow substitute Benjamin Nygren’s winner was the Scotland winger’s first league assist of the season, but Forrest has now created six chances in his last five appearances off the bench.

Forrest also came off the bench to secure the points late on the last time Celtic played Aberdeen – a 3-1 victory at Celtic Park in December.

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton said of Nygren on Sky Sports: “What a strange player. He can go missing in midfield but comes up with goals.”

Just as well given Daizen Maeda is still looking like a shadow of the player who lit up Scottish football last season, January loan signings Tomas Cvancara and Junior Adamu have yet to fully impress and Kelechi Iheanacho has disappeared from view despite his return from injury.

Nygren is not one of the title winners Tierney talked about in Celtic’s squad, but the 24-year-old Sweden midfielder is doing more than most to make sure he gets that league winners’ medal.

Former Celtic midfielder Scott Allan enthused on BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound: “The impact substitutes you’ve seen at the weekend, you’ve seen it again tonight with Benjamin Nygren and James Forrest linking up.

“Lovely tee-up from Forrest and Nygren just finishes – we’ve seen that time and time again and he’s had a real impact in this team.”

Indeed, Nygren has found the net three times and provided one assist in his latest four Premiership games – and his 15 goals are more than any other Celtic player in the league this season.

“I know Nygren gives up certain parts of the game, but what he does do is he gets into the box and gets on the end of things,” Allan said.

“I felt his overall play in the game was really good, played some lovely through balls, always looked like he was going to be a threat round about that 18-yard box and he was the difference again tonight.”

His manager was similary enthusiastic.

“He’s doing something that is the most difficult thing in the game – to score goals -and he’s popped up again with what proved to be the winning goal,” O’Neill said.

There were other individual heroes at Pittodrie.

Viljami Sinisalo has stepped in to replace the off-form and illness struck Kasper Schmeichel in goal and the Finn came up with a stunning stop to deny Kevin Nisbet a second equaliser.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old on-loan Brentford centre-half Benjamin Arthur was handed a first start after Dane Murray was injured in the warm-up.

“Half an hour beforehand his mind was thinking,’ I wonder will I get on at any given stage’ and then the next thing he’s called upon to start the game,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill insisted he always expected the “tough evening” they “certainly got”.

It was Celtic’s fourth midweek game in a row and now they can look forward to Sunday’s renewed rivalry with Rangers, this time in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals.

“Our third game in six days, so that was tough,” he said. “We showed resilience to fight it out towards the end.”

As the travelling West Ham supporters descended into pandemonium at Craven Cottage, Crysencio Summerville stood still, arms outstretched and smiling.

The Dutchman had every reason to grin as he celebrated his fifth Premier League goal of the season to help the Hammers to a vital 1-0 victory against Fulham.

His 65th-minute strike was enough to continue the his side’s quest for Premier League survival in 2026 – on a night when they gained two points on 17th-place Nottingham Forest.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Summerville said: “We have to fight until the end, that’s what we did. I am very pleased to get the three points.”

The forward – who struggled for both form and confidence after joining from Leeds United 18 months ago – has now managed more goals in his last 10 appearances for the club (seven), than he did in his first 38 (one).

“I am in a good space. I love to play, I am just happy to be back and I try to show it every week,” added the winger.

“We have to keep going now. We took positives from the Liverpool game, we had lots of positives, the fans behind us are very pleased and we are going in the right direction – the only way is up.”

But it’s not only Summerville who is finding his feet as the business end of the season looms – West Ham are, too.

The Hammers have now accumulated 14 of their 28 points this season in their past eight Premier League games.

After shipping five goals to a misfiring Liverpool side last Saturday, it would have easy for West Ham’s bubble to burst.

But as far as Nuno was concerned, that was never going to be the case.

The 52-year-old instead chose to focus on the positives from the trip to Anfield – where his side generated an xG of 1.75 – before Wednesday’s short trip to Fulham.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the victory at Craven Cottage, Nuno said: “We are improving game by game.

“It can happen – games like Liverpool – but the confidence is there and the boys are working very hard, very committed knowing that the situation that we are [in] doesn’t change anything.

The scenes inside the away end at Craven Cottage could have been mistaken for those of a team securing survival on the final day of the Premier League season.

But West Ham still have nine games to navigate as they fight to avoid relegation to the Championship for the first time since 2011.

The Hammers are next in action against Brentford on Monday in the FA Cup fifth round.

After that, the matches come thick and fast for the 2023 Conference League winners.

They face three of the Premier League’s current top four – Manchester City, Arsenal and Aston Villa – alongside meetings with relegation rivals Wolves and Leeds United, with the latter coming at London Stadium on the final day of the season.

Strangely enough, though, the fact that five of the remaining nine games are at home could spell trouble.

London Stadium has often felt like an unhappy home for West Ham, with protests against the board and just three wins this season contributing to a disconnected atmosphere.

Arsenal are now firmly cast as the villains of the Premier League title race – but this frenzied night at Brighton might just be the one that ultimately makes them victors.

The Gunners would, in all likelihood, end up as unpopular, unloved champions as their hard-nosed approach comes under increasingly unflattering scrutiny.

And more came their way after a contentious eyesore of a game settled by Bukayo Saka’s early goal, one that saw Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table extended to seven points to create a potentially decisive advantage.

Will Arsenal and manager Mikel Arteta care if the means justify the end of a 22-year wait to win the Premier League? Unlikely.

Arteta’s side have been criticised for what outside observers regard as their employment of dark arts and an over-reliance on set-piece expertise to maintain their position at the top of the table.

And the 1-0 victory at Amex Stadium was the very definition of ugly. In fact to describe it as “ugly” is an insult to ugly.

When the half-time whistle arrived their xG was just 0.01 and the second half was hardly an improvement given it took until the 88th minute for Kai Havertz to register their second effort on target. The final result was the 10th time this season they have won by a single goal.

It was certainly not pleasing on the eye to Brighton’s head coach Fabian Hurzeler, who spent almost the entire game enraged by Arsenal’s strategy and what unfolded before him.

And yet, as the Gunners fans reacted joyously at the final whistle to this win and also at Manchester City’s failure to beat Nottingham Forest, this beast of a triumph might turn out to be a beauty.

As Arsenal celebrated and City slipped, this felt like it may well be the defining night in this tense battle to the Premier League finishing line.

This is not a popularity contest. It is a title contest Arsenal are currently winning.

Hurzeler, who flagged up what he clearly regarded as Arsenal’s time-wasting before the game, did not have his opinion changed by what he saw.

“I think there was only one team who tried to play football today”, said Hurzeler, “and therefore I’m proud of how they did it.”

Hurzeler added: “I will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way. I want to do well. I want my players to keep improving, keep playing football on the pitch.

“In the end, of course, every team will manage and waste time, but I think there has to be a limit, and the limit has to be set by the Premier League. The limit has to be set by the referees, at the moment they just do what they want.”

The Brighton boss continued: “If I would ask now everyone in the room if he really enjoyed this football game I’m sure maybe one raises his arm because he is a big Arsenal fan but besides that, no chance.”

Arteta defended his corner, greeting Hurzeler’s criticism with a caustic “what a surprise” before saying: “You just go back to the previous games and you’ll find a lot of comments like this always.

“I love my players. That’s the highlight. I love my players, we love our players and I love the way we compete.”

And on external criticism, Arteta replied: “I think they love our players. I mean, every time they talk about our players, I think they are the most loved ones in the country.”

The Gunners’ garden currently looks very rosy, but it is increasingly clear that if they are to win their first Premier League since Arsene Wenger’s “Invincibles” 22 years ago, there will not be many admirers outside their own part of north London.

This mess of a match was settled by a goal in keeping with Arsenal’s win, a routine ninth-minute shot from Bukayo Saka that took a deflection off Carlos Baleba before slipping through the legs of Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen.

This was about as creative as it got for Arsenal as they were forced back by Brighton, barely creating another opening, hanging on helped by immense, committed defending.

At the heart of it all was the magnificent Gabriel, repelling all Brighton’s borders and marshalling resources with his outstanding central defensive partner William Saliba missing through injury.

Arsenal’s lead is now seven points, although City still have a game in hand and face the Gunners at Etihad Stadium. It still had the feeling of a result that carried huge weight.

“You just look at this Arsenal side and how they go about winning games, they manage to just grind out results and that’s all they’ve done tonight,” said former England goalkeeper Rob Green on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“They’ve had a stroke of good fortune. There’s not one player that can turn around and say they had a good game, except maybe [Piero] Hincapie and maybe one or two others defensively.”

Arsenal are almost revelling in their status as the bad guys of the Premier League, and Hurzeler’s pre-match words added spice to an already red-hot atmosphere.

He turned in anger to fourth official David Webb after only eight minutes when Arsenal lingered over a throw-in. Every delay (and there were plenty) brought howls of outrage from Brighton’s fans.

Arsenal’s huddle at the start of the second half was greeted with more derision and jeers. If Hurzeler was making a point to Brighton’s fans with his words before the game, they hit the bullseye.

The fury was at its height on the hour when Arsenal keeper David Raya made a save from Georginio Rutter down to his right then slumped to the ground holding his shoulder, requiring lengthy treatment.

Brighton’s fans were at boiling point and Hurzeler clearly felt the same as he said later: “I ask one question. Did you see in the Premier League game a goalkeeper going down three times? No.”

The ill-temper continued into stoppage time when match-winner Saka went down and stayed down.

Clearly believing it was an act of gamesmanship and a delaying tactic, Brighton’s Joel Veltman unceremoniously tried to drag Saka to his feet, prompting a push and an angry exchange.

It was the last flare-up of a confrontational night, one that ends with Arsenal having their destiny in their own hands as they stand eight games from title glory.