Saturday night was truly an entertaining evening before fans celebrated Christmas. 6 matches took place and there were 2 very surprising results, a very close and dramatic match, a decisive victory of a team that was criticized for being bored, a chase of 5 goals or until the injury time. hour, and the most notable match of the round was intense from beginning to end.
Arsenal escaped defeat and the draw helped them top the table for the second year in a row at Christmas
Aston Villa’s draw with Sheffield United on Friday night left Liverpool knowing only one of the two teams would top the table before Christmas, and at Anfield the great battle took place in breathtaking fashion. Gabriel gave Arsenal the lead after only 4 minutes, but Mohamed Salah’s best moment in the 29th minute equalized the score 1-1, and in the second half Liverpool had many opportunities but missed them, unfortunately Trent Alexander’s kick hit the bar. -Arnold minute 72.
The inconclusive result means that Arsenal celebrates Christmas at the top of the table with 40 points after 18 rounds, only 1 point more than Liverpool and Aston Villa (Liverpool is second with a difference of +5 units more than Villa). This is the 4th time in Premier League history that Arsenal have topped the table at Christmas and also the 2nd year in a row, in the previous 3 times (2002/03, 2007/08, 2022/23) they ended up finishing the season. Neither tournament won the championship, so I don’t know if this will be good news or an “omen” for the “Gunners”.
The race is still very close but Arsenal will have a little breather because in the next 3 rounds they are not far from London, West Ham is a difficult opponent after just defeating MU 2-0 to rise to 6th on the rankings but the following 2 teams Arsenal met Fulham and Crystal Palace, both of which were not too strong and were in the bottom half of the rankings. Liverpool meets Burnley and Newcastle but will then focus on two cup fronts, including the match against Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup, while Aston Villa is about to meet MU and Burnley.
Muhammad Kudus celebrates his goal against MU, helping West Ham rise to the top 6
Speaking of West Ham, the recent win against MU has given them a chance to compete for tickets to the European Cup next season even though the top 4 is a bit far away at 6 points behind. West Ham is 12 points ahead of Newcastle and MU, respectively. Notably, the 0-1 loss to Luton Town caused Newcastle to lose 3/4 of the most recent rounds and in the next 3 rounds, opponents include both Liverpool and Man City.
The remaining opponent for Newcastle in the next 3 rounds is , the team that just lost unfortunately 2-3 to Bournemouth in a position with no players. They had just replaced their generals and Nuno Santo seemed to retain 1 point, but Dominic Solanke scored in the 90+4 minute to complete the hat-trick and bring Bournemouth level on points with 10th-ranked team Chelsea, while Nottingham was in danger of falling. “red light” group.
Luton Town won big against Newcastle and paid tribute to captain Lockyer
This two-time Champions Cup team is only 2 points ahead of Luton Town and Luton still has 1 match to replay after being abandoned due to captain Tom Lockyer’s heart attack. Not only that, Burnley in 19th place is only 3 points behind Nottingham after unexpectedly defeating Fulham 2-0, an unexpected victory because Fulham this December won many matches with large scores.
In the remaining match of the round, Tottenham led 2-0 in the first half but was quite lucky to keep all 3 points at home before Everton’s rise in the second half. The 2-1 win temporarily brought Tottenham into the top 4 and They are only 3 points behind Aston Villa, but Man City in 5th place is only 2 points behind Spurs and will return to the top 4 if they win the make-up match against Brentford.
