Arsenal and United cede top four race to Spurs

 

Anthony Gordon celebrates with teammates after scoring what proved to be the winner against Manchester United on Saturday. (Photo credit: Premierleague.com)

Manchester United and Arsenal have ceded the top four charge to Tottenham Hotspur after the two league giants lost their respective games on Saturday while the North London side blew Aston Villa away at Villa Park to go three clear of Arsenal and also created a 10-goal advantage in the process.

Manchester United opened the weekend account with their visit to troubled Everton. United had just one job, beat Everton and go level on points with Arsenal and Spurs but in an unprecedented fashion, the Red Devils lost to an Anthony Gordon first half strike that went in off Harry Maguire.

The Manchester United captain had a game to forget and not for the first time as his gaffes throughout the game unsettled his side and got them worried each time the Toffees went forward. The loss meant United have now gone three games without a result to be proud of.

Arsenal lost at home to Brighton, a result that came just days after losing 3-0 away at Crystal Palace. The Gunners had the momentum for the top four charge but have now ceded it to Spurs. Enoch Nwepu squared up Leandro Trossard for a brilliant opener that flew past Aaron Ramsdale around the half hour mark to sound some warnings.

Heung Min Son celebrates after completing hatrick against Aston Villa on Saturday. (Photo credit: Sky Sports)

Arsenal thought they had equalized late in the first half when Gabriel Martinelli headed home but replays showed the Brazilian was well offside. Arsenal came out blazing in the second half but the frailties from the midfield were well exploited by the Seagulls.

Arsenal were without Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney, Granit Xhaka played at left back and Sambi Lokonga deputized in midfield but it was Brighton that struck again; another well worked pass from the midfield fell to Mwepu who fired past Ramsdale for the visitors’ second.

Arsenal pulled one back through Martin Odegaard, his sensational long ranger beat Sanchez in the Brighton goal but that was after Arsenal had struck the woodwork twice in the same passage of play.

Tottenham didn’t waste time before registering intents against Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool. The Visitors got their noses in front quite early through Heung Min Son, the first of his hatrick on the day. Harry Kane also completed a hatrick of assists on Saturday, he set up Son twice and Dejan Kulusevski once.

Son is now tenth on the Spurs leaderboard with just five goals off Robbie Keane. The 4-0 win over Villa took Spurs three clear of Arsenal but the Gunners have a game in hand, both will meet on the 12^th of May for what would be the grand finale, provided one of them don’t fall off the race.