Premier League
Arsenal top the table for the time being – Man City wins without Haaland
Arsenal’s Kai Havertz (r) prepared Martin Odegaard’s goal to make it 1-0. photo
© Nick Potts/PA Wire/dpa
In the Premier League three-way tie, Arsenal will take the lead in the table for the time being with a win against Luton Town. Manchester City is also putting pressure on them. Liverpool can regain first place on Thursday.
Arsenal FC is top of the English league table again, at least for one day Premier League. The team led by German national soccer player Kai Havertz easily won 2-0 (2-0) against relegation-threatened Luton Town and initially pushed Liverpool FC out of first place.
Without a few top stars, Manchester City won surprisingly clearly with 4:1 (2:1) against Aston Villa and drew level on points with the Reds, trained by Jürgen Klopp. With a win against bottom team Sheffield United, Liverpool could regain the top of the table on Thursday evening and keep City at bay.
Havertz prepares Arsenal’s lead
Arsenal dominated the game in front of their own crowd from the start, but initially hardly threatened to score. Martin Odegaard (24th minute) finally shot the Gunners into the lead with a precise left-footed shot. Havertz provided the assist for his goal. Shortly before half-time, Luton’s Daiki Hashioka (44th) scored an own goal when he tried to fend off a ball from Emile Smith Rowe, who had returned from injury for around a month.
Havertz received a yellow card for a swallow in the second half and was substituted after a good hour. After more changes, not much happened. Arsenal just managed the result and gave Luton more possession. The table 18th. Played along cheerfully, but hardly had any real chances to score throughout the entire 90 minutes and are now three points behind the non-relegation zone.
Foden shines in City win
At Man City, coach Pep Guardiola could even afford to leave top stars John Stones, Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland on the bench. The defending champion won confidently thanks to Rodri’s goal (11th) and a hat-trick from the strong England professional Phil Foden (45th + 1/60th/69th).
Jhon Durán scored the interim equalizer for Villa, the surprise team of the season so far (20th).