Arsenal draw with Brighton as Man City’s rebound continues | Football news

Arsenal missed an opportunity to gain a significant lead over Liverpool, leaders of the English Premier League A disappointing 1-1 draw with Brighton.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, runners-up in the Premier League for the past two seasons, traveled to the south coast on Saturday in search of a fourth successive league win.

17-year-old Ethan Nwaniri, who came on for the injured Bukayo Saka, set the team on course for three points in the first half.

But Joao Pedro equalized from a penalty kick after a header clash between the Brazilian and William Saliba after the hour mark, sparking an angry reaction from Arteta.

Arteta said: “We are also very disappointed by the penalty kick and the way it was awarded.” “I have never seen that in my life, and Saliba touched the ball, so it was never a penalty kick for me.”

The 1-1 draw means second-placed Arsenal are five points behind Liverpool, having played two games more, as Arne Sloat’s in-form leaders host crisis-hit Manchester United on Sunday.

“We knew it would be competitive and challenging,” Arteta added. “But we competed, and it wasn’t our best day.

“We play every three days as well, and today we missed a lot of simple things. When doing the simple things, you have to do them right, and today it was not by those standards.

Manchester City returns to winning ways against West Ham

Manchester City, who beat Leicester last week for only their second win in 14 matches, won back-to-back matches for the first time since October after beating West Ham 4-1 earlier on Saturday.

The defending champions took an early lead against West Ham through Vladimir Coufal’s own goal and Erling Haaland headed in Savinho’s deep cross shortly before half-time.

The Norwegian scored his second goal 10 minutes after the end of the first half, as he put the ball over Alphonse Areola after a wonderful pass from Savinho, raising his score in the league to 16 goals, one goal behind Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.

Phil Foden made it 4-0 before Niklas Volkrug scored a consolation goal for Julen Lopetegui’s men, who suffered a crushing 5-0 defeat by Premier League leaders Liverpool last week.

Arsenal’s draw with Brighton means Liverpool could go eight points clear, with a game in hand…

They will face Manchester United tomorrow at 16:30 GMT 🔜 pic.twitter.com/CTvSfzmHPZ

— English Premier League (@premierleague) January 4, 2025

Despite the shocking series of results, City, in sixth place, is only two points behind Chelsea, in fourth place, but Guardiola said that his team has not yet returned to the required level.

“I’m very happy with the result, but you can’t ask me whether the old city is back or not,” he said. “If you watch the game, we’re not.

“You have seen many times over the years what we have done to our opponents.”

Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa are chasing them. Tottenham are faltering

At the beginning of the match, Newcastle United came from behind to achieve its fifth consecutive victory in the English Premier League and burden Tottenham Hotspur, who were plagued by injuries. The hosts took the lead in the fourth minute through Dominic Solanke.

Newcastle equalized two minutes later when Anthony Gordon fired a shot into the bottom corner, but Postecoglou stood in disbelief on the touchline, looking at referee Andrew Madley after Joelinton intercepted Lukas Bergvall’s pass with his hand in the build-up to the attack.

The VAR deemed Joelinton’s arm to be in a normal position and the contact was accidental. The in-form Alexander Isak scored the winning goal at the end of the first half.

The 2-1 win, watched by new England coach Thomas Tuchel, leaves Newcastle in fifth place, which could be enough to secure a place in next season’s Champions League. But Tottenham fell to 12th place in the table after five defeats in seven matches.

Postecoglou said he was proud of his players but was “the angriest I’ve ever been in my career.”

“I think it’s clear,” the Australian said. “Now whether people agree with me or not, whether it was not a handball or whether it was accidental, I am not interested in any of this discussion.

“I know what everyone wants me to say, but all I’ll say is that on any other day, on a fair and level playing field, we would have won that game. Simple as that.”

Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea were teasing Liverpool just a fortnight ago, but have picked up just two points from four games over the festive period.

Cole Palmer took the lead for the visitors in the first half, but they were unable to capitalize on their possession of the ball, and Jean-Philippe Mateta equalized in the 82nd minute.

“Two weeks ago, three weeks ago, we were talking about the title race… but at this moment in the season, I knew that would happen in any season for any team, and that you have a moment where you cannot win,” Maresca said.

Aston Villa beat relegation-threatened Leicester 2-1 at home, thanks to goals from Ross Barkley and Leon Bailey.

Brentford achieved its first win away from home in the league this season, beating Southampton 5-0, and Bournemouth beat Everton 1-0.