Arsenal restored their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League title with a late 1-0 win over West Ham United at the London Stadium on Sunday evening.
The mood in the Gunners’ camp was completely high having reached the final of the UEFA Champions League in midweek ahead, while the Hammers looked for a win to climb out of the relegation zone.
Mikel Arteta’s men knew the task at hand against the struggling host and were pushed to the edge for a large parts of the match before Leandro Trossard showed up with seven minutes to go and riffled a loose ball edge of the area into the bottom-corner.
The Hammers looked to have drawn level in stoppage time courtesy of a stomping finish by Callum Wilson, but it was disallowed after a foul on David Raya by Pablo following a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) check.
The Gunners now sit five points clear with two points remaining.
Aston Villa remained five points clear in fifth-place on the table and head of Bournemouth through a 2-2 draw against the already relegated Burnley at Turf Moor.
The home team made the fast start eight minutes on the clock through a smart finish by Jaidon Anthony, but a well-taken header by Ross Barkley ahead of halftime clawed Unai Emery’s boys on level terms.
Emery’s charges continued to keep their foot on the accelerator and put their noses in front when Ollie Watkins latched onto a delivery up-field from Emiliano Martinez and rattled the back of the net.
Seeing their tails up, the lead didn’t last long as the demoted outfit pulled the leveller and grabbed a point courtesy of a clever finish by striker Zian Flemming.
Everton’s ambitions to finish in the top-half of the table and qualify for continental football next season were dented following a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace.
Defender James Tarkowski put the Toffees on the front-foot in the sixth minute with a simple tap-in from a corner-kick, but Senegalese Ismaila Sarr powered the Eagles level following ill-timed defending from David Moyes’ men.
Everton were back in the lead two minutes in the second half courtesy of a well-drilled finish by Beto following a quick counter-attack initiated by Tarkowski, but the Eagles salvaged a point late on with a finish into the top corner by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Nottingham Forest came from a goal down in the final minutes and secured a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United and bounced back from their pasting in the UEFA Europa League semi-final against Aston Villa on Thursday.
Both teams were keen to continue their momentum to climb further up the table following their victories over Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea respectively.
The match took time to get going though victory looked a certainty for the Magpies when Harvey Barnes sprinted through on goal and finished with great aplomb, but the host rescued a point with two minutes to go through a top corner finish by Elliot Anderson.
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Source: Kick Off
