London: Arsenal retained their five point lead at the top of the Premier League in dramatic fashion following a second half fightback and a late winning goal at home over Bournemouth.
The Gunners kicked off the match after their lead was narrowed to just two points with Manchester City winning 2-0 at home over Newcastle United in Saturday’s early kick-off.
Phil Foden, who seems to be firmly back in favor at the Etihad Stadium, put Pep Guardiola’s men in front after 15 minutes, before Bernardo Silva scored City’s second in the 67th minute with a neat finish shortly after coming on as a substitute, a Xinhua report said.
Arsenal got off to a dreadful start when Phillip Billing put Bournemouth ahead in the first 10 seconds of their match.
The home side controlled around 80 percent of the goal, but failed to score before halftime and fell 2-0 behind to Marco Senesi’s header from a corner in the 57th minute.
Arsenal were quickly back into the game with Thomas Partey’s tap-in, and Ben White’s finish from Reiss Nelson’s cross made it 2-2 by the 70th minute.
Arsenal threw everything at the visitors, but it wasn’t until the seventh minute of injury time that Nelson scored the winner with a curling shot into the far corner of the net to spark scenes of wild celebration among Arsenal fans.
The defeat leaves Bournemouth bottom of the table after Southampton claimed a 1-0 home win over Leicester City, who have now lost their last four games in all competitions.
Tottenham Spur’s difficult week got worse after Adama Traore’s late goal condemned them to a 1-0 defeat away to Wolverhampton, just four days after they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United.
Wesley Fofana’s 53rd minute header gave Chelsea a 1-0 win at home over Leeds United to ease some pressure on Graham Potter and leave Leeds just a point above the bottom three.
West Ham are a point above Leeds after a 4-0 thumping away to Brighton, who are on the verge of the top-five after goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Joel Veltman, Kaoru Mitoma and Danny Welbeck gave them an impressive win. The loss, following FA Cup elimination midweek, also increases the pressure on West Ham boss David Moyes.
Aston Villa made it two wins in two games thanks to Joaquin Alexander’s own goal against Crystal Palace, who ended with 10 men after Cheick Doucoure was sent off in the 62nd minute.
IANS