Saturday 21 / December / 2024
London: Free-scoring Arsenal replaced Chelsea as Premier League leaders as goals either side of halftime by Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil helped them recover from a slow start to beat Stoke City 3-1 on Saturday.
A rash challenge by Granit Xhaka on Joe Allen gave Charlie Adam the chance to put Stoke ahead from the penalty spot after 29 minutes and the Scot dispatched his spot-kick with ease.
Arsenal raised their game and equalised three minutes before the break when Walcott stabbed in Hector Bellerin's low cross.
Ozil's looping header over stranded Stoke keeper Lee Grant put Arsenal ahead five minutes after the interval before substitute Alex Iwobi ran through to give Arsenal the two-goal victory they needed to top the table on goals scored.
Everton lose
Italy international Stefano Okaka scored either side of halftime to give Watford a 3-2 Premier League win over Everton on Saturday, their first victory over the Merseyside club in any competition since 1987.
Watford, who started with players of 11 different nationalities in their line-up, went behind in the 17th minute when Romelu Lukaku scored from close range for Everton after Gareth Barry lobbed the defence.
The goal was the Belgian's eighth in the league this season but the lead was short-lived, Okaka equalising in the 36th with a back-heeled flick at the near post from Nordin Amrabat's cross.
Okaka followed up on his first Watford goal by heading in the Hornets' third from a corner in the 64th after Austrian Sebastian Prodl had headed in his first league goal of the season from Jose Holebas's free kick.
Lukaku headed in his second of the afternoon with four minutes of normal time remaining but Watford hung on to go seventh in the standings on 21 points and ahead of ninth-placed Everton.
Swansea win
A Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty and a brace from Fernando Llorente gave Swansea City a 3-0 win over fellow strugglers Sunderland in the Premier League on Saturday, relieving the pressure on manager Bob Bradley.
Sigurdsson struck from the penalty spot in the 50th minute after a handball by Jason Denayer and he turned provider four minutes later, sliding a low corner into the box which Spaniard Llorente steered past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Llorente wrapped up the three points in the 80th minute when he headed in Jefferson Montero's cross following an interception by the excellent Leon Britton, who was making his first appearance since the start of November.
The win was Swansea's second under American Bradley, the favourite with British bookmakers to be the next Premier League manager to lose his job, and made it back-to-back victories at the Liberty Stadium for his team.
Burnley win
Burnley scored twice in the space of three first-half minutes to end a run of three straight defeats with a 3-2 home win against Bournemouth on Saturday in the first Premier League meeting between the sides.
Promoted last season, Burnley had never lost to the Cherries at Turf Moor and they made a lively start to keep that record intact.
Jeff Hendrick unleashed a stunning half-volley from 25 metres in the 13th minute to open the scoring and Stephen Ward made it 2-0 three minutes later with his first league goal in more than four years.
Bournemouth, who beat Liverpool 4-3 on Sunday, put themselves back into the match when the unmarked Benik Afobe swept the ball past goalkeeper Tom Heaton two minutes into first-half stoppage time, but George Boyd made it 3-1 in the 75th.
Charlie Daniels reduced the gap again with a 91st-minute long-range strike past Heaton, after Afobe had an effort disallowed, but Burnley held on for their fifth home win of the season to go 13th, two places behind Bournemouth.
