Premier League
Arsenal at the top – Manchester City also wins
Bukayo Saka (rl) celebrates the opening goal with Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz. photo
© Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa
Arsenal FC is first in the table. Manchester City also wins. The championship race in the Premier League is extremely exciting. Will Liverpool follow suit?
Arsenal FC with national soccer player Kai Havertz is at the top of the table for at least one day Premier League taken over by Liverpool FC and the title race in England continued to be very exciting.
The Gunners beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 (1-0) thanks to a goal from Havertz and are leaders, one point more than Jürgen Klopp’s team. Liverpool can restore their two-point lead with a win at Manchester United. For Arsenal, the 22nd win of the season was a successful introduction to the quarter-final first leg in the Champions League against the stumbling FC Bayern Munich.
Arsenal took the lead thanks to a converted penalty from Bukayo Saka in the 33rd minute. In the second half, 24-year-old Havertz showed why he has been in top form for some time. The former Leverkusen player struck in the 62nd minute when, following Jorginho’s preparatory work, he found the right path against two men and finished from close range. Leandro Trossard (86th) made the final score shortly before the end.
City stays in the three-way battle
Manchester City had previously kept the championship three-way tie open with its 21st league win and gained self-confidence for the quarter-final first leg in the Champions League at Real Madrid. The English champions won 4:2 (1:1) at Crystal Palace and, like Liverpool, are third and have 70 points on their account, but have played one game more than the Reds.
With his 99th and 100th goals for the Cityzens, Kevin De Bruyne (13th/70th) was the player of the day. Rico Lewis (47th minute) and Erling Haaland (66th) also scored for coach Pep Guardiola’s team. The South Londoners had already taken the lead in the third minute through ex-Mainz player Jean-Philippe Mateta. But in the end, despite Odsonne Edouard’s late goal (86th), the deserved defeat was certain for former Bundesliga coach Oliver Glasner on the Eagles’ sidelines.