Arsenal showed no sign of raising the white flag in the Premier League title race with a 2-0 victory at Newcastle United on Sunday to close the gap on leaders Manchester City to one point.
Defeat would have left Arsenal’s hopes of a first title since 2004 hanging by a thread but Martin Odegaard’s brilliant strike and a Fabian Schar own goal sealed a vital victory.
Newcastle, bidding to cement third place and take a big step towards a top-four finish, dominated early on but Odegaard’s sweet strike after 14 minutes gave the visitors the lead.
Schar then inadvertently turned in Gabriel Martinelli’s cross with 20 minutes remaining.
City, who have won 10 straight games to catch and then overhaul Arsenal, have 82 points from 34 games with the Gunners on 81 having played a game more.
If ever there was a test of the resolve of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team it was a trip to St James’s Park to face a Newcastle side on a roll in their quest to return to the Champions League after an absence of two decades.
They were fortunate to survive an early onslaught with Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy thumping a second-minute shot against the foot of the post and Alexander Isak forcing Aaron Ramsdale into an early save.
Newcastle were then awarded a penalty after Bruno Guimaraes was blocked by Jakub Kiwior and referee Chris Kavanagh pointed to the spot for apparent handball, but after a VAR check the decision was overturned to the relief of the visitors.
Arsenal then took the lead with their first shot as Odegaard was allowed too much time and sent a skidding effort inside the post from outside the penalty area.
The visitors were devastatingly effective on the counter-attack and Odegaard was at the heart of all their best work, releasing Martinelli who forced Nick Pope into a smart save.
Pope came to the rescue again in stoppage time of frenetic first half, keeping out Odegaard’s shot.
The second half began in almost identical fashion to the first with Murphy’s cross being headed against the post by Isak and Ramsdale somehow keeping out Schar’s close-range header.
Salah ‘all-time’ great
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp hailed Mohamed Salah after the Egyptian striker’s winner against Brentford on Saturday set a number of milestones and kept the Reds in the hunt for Champions League football next season.
Salah struck from close range in the 13th minute to score for the ninth home game in a row, making it to 30 goals this season and a century of goals at Liverpool’s iconic stadium since he joined from AS Roma in 2017.
“I think as an offensive player, you need to have this desire to score goals, but a lot of people forget how many goals he sets up, so he’s always involved in the goals,” Klopp told Sky Sports after 1-0 Premier League win.
“For us, he’s an all-time great,” he added.
Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace are working with the Metropolitan Police to investigate an allegation of racial abuse towards Son Heung-min, both clubs said.
Racial abuse
Videos on social media showed a fan at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium making a racist gesture towards the South Korean as he walked past Palace fans after being substituted in a 1-0 win over the visitors on Saturday.Son has been subjected to racist abuse in the past.
