With a dominant 4-1 win to take the lead in the Premier League, Arsenal ended Aston Villa’s 11-game winning streak while Chelsea and Manchester United wasted a chance to finish in the top four.
Chelsea have won once in seven league games since being held 2-2 by Bournemouth in the final round of English top-flight games on Saturday, while Wolves picked up just their third point of the season in a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.
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In Villa Park earlier this month, Arsenal resurrected their grip on the title race by claiming their only defeat of the previous 25 games in all competitions.
Unai Emery’s side were blown away in the second half at the Emirates, raising questions about Villa’s ability to live with Arsenal and Manchester City over the course of 38 games.
Arsenal broke out after a close-fought first 45 minutes, in which Villa had opportunities thanks to Ollie Watkins.
When Gabriel Magalhaes outmuscled Emi Martinez for his second start following a hamstring injury, Mikel Arteta’s men could use a set-piece once more to break the deadlock.
Martin Zubimendi scored a fine through-ball before Martin Odegaard doubled the Gunners’ lead.
Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus fired in from outside the box, causing two excellent strikes to then salt the visitors’ wounds.
Watkins scored a consolation goal, but Villa, in third place, was only six points clear of the leaders.
When City travel to Sunderland on January 1st, they can close the top gap by two points.
Wolves end their unbeaten run at Manchester United.
United squandered a second chance at Old Trafford to improve their chances of winning the Champions League the following year.
The Red Devils took the lead thanks to Joshua Zirkzee’s deflected effort, but Ladislav Krejci’s header snapped Wolves’ 12-game losing streak.
Ruben Amorim’s men are still in sixth place, just two points behind.
Chelsea’s inability to end the gloom at Stamford Bridge was a result of Enzo Maresca’s frustrated home fans booing their replacement Cole Palmer.
Bournemouth quickly demonstrated why they have conceded more goals on the road than any other side in the English top flight, despite David Brooks’ flawless start.
Before Enzo Fernandez was given acres of space to fire into the top corner, Palmer equalized from the penalty spot.
However, in the opening 27 minutes, Chelsea was unable to convert Antoine Semenyo’s delivery at the back post. Justin Kluivert did so for the second time.
The Blues are still in fifth place despite Maresca’s decision to replace Palmer with Joao Pedro, who the home fans drew attention to.
After a fantastic opening win over Burnley 3-1, Newcastle were forced to sweat for the second away league win of the year.
Within seven minutes, the Magpies were up 2-0 with goals from Joelinton and Yoane Wissa.
Eddie Howe’s men won thanks to Bruno Guimaraes, who scored the opening goal for the visitors in the closing stages of the match, and Josh Laurent equalized midway through the first half.
Everton, which had lost out to former boss Sean Dyche for the second time in a month at Nottingham Forest, climbed into the top half of the table.
The Toffees’ goal, which James Garner and Thierno Barry scored, placed Dyche’s side just four points above the relegation zone, despite their previous 3-0 victory over Forest on December 6.
Source: Aljazeera
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