League leaders Arsenal were held to a goalless draw by Newcastle at the Emirates in a matchday 19 encounter of the 2022-23 English Premier League (EPL) season.
Meanwhile, Brighton were in superb form, dispatching a sorry Everton side 4-1 at the Goodison Park. Manchester United also recorded an emphatic 3-0 home victory against hapless Bournemouth.
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Arsenal 0-0 Newcastle
Nine points still separate both sides after their scoreless affair on Tuesday night. The Gunners were hoping for a victory to extend their lead over second-placed Manchester City to 11 points.
The draw however means Mikel Arteta’s side are eight points above the Cityzens who play Chelsea on Thursday. If City wins, the pints difference between the two teams will be reduced to five.
Arsenal had the better share of possession, boasting 76% of possession but their 17 attempts at goal could not hit the target.
Newcastle’s dependable players Miguel Almirón, Joelinton, Bruno Guimarães and Callum Wilson couldn’t bite and the introduction of Chris Wood Jacob Murphy and Allan Saint-Maximin couldn’t do the damage.
However, kudos must be given to Arsenal for putting up a highly commanding display. Martin Ødegaard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and the ever-impressive Eddie Nketiah pushed for a goal but we’re unlucky.
There was controversy in the dying moments when Murphy’s arm hit a cross in the box but the referee ruled play on, much to the dismay of Arsenal players and faithfuls.
Everton 1-4 Brighton
Having won only one of their previous 10 Premier League encounters, Everton entered the matchday 19 fixture as a relatively weak side.
Brighton, on the other hand, were beaming with confidence especially after their commendable draw against Manchester City last time out.
With this loss, Everton are now 16th in the Premier League table, with just one point above the relegation waters, piling more pressure on coach Frank Lampard.
The away side kick-started the evening with a fine goal by Japanese Kaoru Mitoma following an assist by Moisés Caicedo
Interestingly for Brighton, but devastatingly for Everton, three goals within six minutes by Evan Ferguson, Solly March and Pascal Groß sent Roberto De Zerbi’s men 4-0 up.
Toffees got a consolation in second minute of additional time when Demarai Gray converted from the spot.
Manchester United 3-0 Bournemouth
Sweet victory for United at the Old Trafford and what more can they ask for. It’s also three straight league victories for Erik Ten Hag’s boys and they’ve failed to concede a goal in any three.
Tuesday night’s victory takes United to fourth on the EPL table, level on points with third-placed Newcastle who have played one game more.
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Casemiro, Luke Shaw and in-form forward Marcus Rashford were the goal-getters during the EPL matchday 19 fixture against Bournemouth.
Ten Hag expressed his happiness over the victory but asserted it was not the best game from his team, saying they were lucky. The Dutch coach was more impressed with David de Gea’s second half saves.
“I’m happy with that, quite obvious and quite clear,” said the first team manager. “But today was not our best game, we have to be honest, we didn’t play that smart as a team, we made great goals but also sometimes we were lucky.”
Leicester City 0-1 Fulham
Leicester City were condemned to a third straight league loss on Tuesday following a narrow 1-0 home loss to Fulham.
Aleksandar Mitrović scored the only goal of the encounter to hand Cottagers all three points.
With his goal, the Serb became the first Fulham player to score in three successive Premier League away games since Heidar Helguson in February 2006.
Super Eagles midfielder, Wilfred Onyinye Ndidi made his 11th appearance of the season before he was replaced with Nampalys Mendy in the 72nd minute. Another Super Eagles player Kelechi Iheanacho was also introduced for Luke Thomas in the same minute.
Fulham are now 7th on the log with 28 points from 18 matches while Leicester City sit in 13th position with 17pts from same number of games.
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