Arsenal fell to a second straight loss with a 2-1 defeat at Fulham on Sunday, missing out on a chance to end the year atop the English Premier League table.

Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal the lead after just five minutes, but the visitors were toothless after that as Raul Jimenez equalised in the first half and Bobby De Cordova-Reid poked in the winner in the 59th.

Arsenal topped the standings at Christmas but enter 2024 in fourth place after this defeat followed their first home loss of the season against West Ham United on Thursday. A win at Fulham would have lifted Mikel Arteta’s team provisionally above leaders Liverpool in a tightly packed top-four.

But, the Gunners have won just one of their last five league games and this was perhaps the most listless performance in that stretch. Arteta will have to ponder whether to look for attacking reinforcements in the January transfer window after his team struggled to create quality chances after their early goal — even after switching to a back three with two strikers up front for the last 20 minutes.

Gabriel Martinelli did the hard work for the opener, running with the ball from within his half before cutting into the area and curling a low show toward the far post that Bernd Leno could only divert into the path of Saka, who just had to stick his foot out to turn in the rebound.

But, Fulham responded well and had already missed a couple of decent chances to score by the time Jimenez met a low cross from Tom Cairney and beat David Raya with a first-time effort in the 29th. It was Jimenez’s fourth goal in his last four league games — equaling his tally from the previous 50.

Fulham continued to look dangerous when going forward De Cordova-Reid put the hosts ahead after Arsenal failed to clear a corner and the ball fell to the winger to poke home from close range.

Saka had a chance to equalise in the 63rd when the ball fell to him in the area but he volleyed well high. Arsenal didn’t have an effort on target in the second half until a scuffed cross from Saka in injury time fell harmlessly to Leno.

And, that was despite striker Gabriel Jesus coming off the bench in the 67th to partner Eddie Nketiah up front as Arteta opted to play with just three defenders.

Spurs bounce back

Tottenham finished 2023 on a high with victory over an energetic Bournemouth at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Pape Sarr opened the scoring when Rodrigo Bentancur latched on to Neto’s casual pass out from the back and it broke for Sarr, who drilled it into the far corner.

Smarting from a 4-2 loss to Brighton in midweek, an injury-hit Spurs watched as Bournemouth enjoyed plenty of chances and looked likely to level.

But the visitors lacked a clinical edge and Son Heung-min doubled his side’s lead with a superb left-footed strike which went in off a post before Richarlison swept home to wrap up the points for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

Written with inputs from Reuters

Rabiot scores winner

Turin (Italy): Adrien Rabiot’s second-half goal earned Juventus a 1-0 home win over AS Roma on Saturday that took them within two points of Serie A leaders Inter Milan.

Juve made the breakthrough two minutes after halftime when French midfielder Rabiot was left unmarked as he collected a flick from Dusan Vlahovic and calmly slotted home.

Juve finished the year in second place with 43 points from 18 games behind Inter, who drew 1-1 at Genoa on Friday. Jose Mourinho’s Roma are seventh with 28 points.

“It was a good game, because playing against Roma is never easy, especially when Mourinho is on the opposition bench,” Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri told DAZN.

“At this moment, I think we are in good shape physically, the last three days of training were good too and we had some impressive passing moves.”

Reuters