The Premier League on Wednesday had several high-profile matches lined up for the fans as Arsenal were well and truly put to the sword by a Manchester City winning machine firmly ending their hopes of a first league title in over 20 years.
Elsewhere, Liverpool kept their winning run going in a bid to make a late push for the top four, while Chelsea kept their winless run going. Nottingham Forest took a stride towards ensuring their Premier League status for the next season as they downed a Brighton side looking to finish in European places. Here’s what went down last night:
In what was built up as the title decider and a six-pointer between the top two teams of the Premier League this season, it was Manchester City who kept up the pressure on the table toppers Arsenal putting four goals past them in a relentless display of football. Arsenal, who came out as the shock title contenders this season, drew their last three games to hand the onus to Manchester City in the race for the title. Playing at their home ground, Manchester City did not shy away from taking the chance as they put four past Arsenal with Kevin De Bruyne scoring two and assisting another to keep their bid for a third successive Premier League title and a possible treble alive. City now has 73 points with two games in hand over Arsenal who are on 75 points from 33 league games and its now looking increasingly likely that the PL trophy will be draped in blue ribbons once again this year.
14th placed West Ham United welcomed Liverpool to the London Stadium looking to build on their positive run of results in the previous rounds of fixtures in the Premier League. Having drawn against Arsenal in a thrilling match and putting four past Bournemouth, West Ham were looking to test a renewed Liverpool side with the aim of coming away with a win. However, Liverpool, who have somewhat turned things around and have strung together a decent run of results with three consecutive victories played well to ensure that did not happen. Having gone down to a first half goal from Lucas Paqueta, the Reds sprung to action and scored through Cody Gakpo and a well planted header from Joel Matip to claim a 2-1 win which will do them a world of good in their late push for a top four finish.
An own goal from Cesar Azpilicueta and a Bryan Mbeumo goal were enough to ensure Chelsea remained winless under interim manager Frank Lampard. The result means Chelsea remain 11th on the table, closer to the relegation places than the top four in what has been a dismal season for the Blues. New ownership has seen a scattergun approach in terms of investment into the squad with several top players signed for a sum going beyond the 600 million pounds mark. However, that has not translated into results on the pitch which saw Graham Potter being relieved of his duties and Frank Lampard coming in as a stop-gap measure until the end of the season. However, that has also not worked out well as Chelsea fans will just be hoping the season comes to an end as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Brentford ensured they took the opportunity to turn things around after a run of three straight losses and a draw in the Premier League.
Brighton’s hopes for a European finish were dented a big blow as Nottingham Forest won 3-1 at the City Ground on Wednesday courtesy an own goal from Pascal Groß combined with a goal from Danilo and late penalty from Morgan Gibbs-White. In reply, Brighton scored just the one goal which came from Facundo Buonanotte. The welcome win for Nottingham Forest means they have jumped out of the relegation places and are on 30 points. However, that does not mean they are out of danger and will have to hope for similar results in the coming matches if they are to survive the drop.
