Thursday 04 / July / 2024
London: Arsenal scored twice in three minutes through Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck to claim a deserved 2-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday and inflict a first Premier League defeat on the visitors in 26 games.
The victory at the Emirates Stadium keeps sixth-placed Arsenal's hopes of a top-four finish alive, but they remain six points adrift of Manchester City, who currently occupy the final Champions League qualifying slot, with one game in hand.
The win also takes Arsenal within two points of fifth-placed United, who stay four points behind Manchester City having played the same number of games as their local rivals.
For all of United manager Jose Mourinho's pre-match bluster about fielding a weakened team, his only concession to youth was 19-year-old Axel Tuanzebe, who made his league debut.
Everything else was familiar with United under orders to produce the sort of bodies behind the ball performance that makes them so hard to beat.
But they were undone after the break with Xhaka's 25-metre shot looping up off Ander Herrera to catch out keeper David De Gea after 54 minutes and then Welbeck heading the second against his former side from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's cross.
The win was Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's first over Jose Mourinho in a league game.
Liverpool held
Meanwhile, James Milner missed a penalty as Liverpool were held to a 0-0 home draw by Southampton in a blow to their hopes of finishing in the top four and securing a place in next season's Champions League.
Phillippe Coutinho returned from the leg injury that saw him limp out of Monday's 1-0 win over Watford, but the Reds struggled to spark offensively against Southampton's resolute defence.
The hosts were handed a lifeline in the second half when referee Robert Madley pointed to the spot after Southampton defender Jack Stephens handled the ball in the box, but Fraser Forster got down smartly to his right to keep out Milner's spot kick.
Forster also tipped substitute Marko Grujic's late header over, leaving Liverpool third in the table on 70 points.
