Arsenal climbed the coldest and hardest wall that has been put in front of them in the Premier range. After 96 minutes of suffering uphill, in front of perplexed fans and with Manchester City’s breath in their ears, the championship leader came back from 0-1 against Bournemouth and made it 3-2 in the last action of the match. With a kick from young Nelson, an almost anonymous substitute, Arsenal kept the five-point lead that keeps them at the helm of the most powerful league in the world with 12 games to go.
3
Aaron Ramsdale, Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu (Ben White, min. 45), Gabriel, William Saliba, Thomas, Odegaard, Fabio Daniel Vieira (Xhaka, min. 83), Bukayo Saka, Trossard (Emile Smith-Rowe, min. 22) and Martinelli
2
Neto, Jack Stephens, Jordan Zemura (Ryan Fredericks, min. 64), Marcos Senesi, Mepham, Adam Smith, Philip Billing, Dango Ouattara (Ryan Christie, min. 81), Antoine Semenyo, Joe Rothwell (Lewis Cook, min. 70 ) and D. Solanke
goals 0-1 min. 0: Philip Billing. 0-2 min. 56: Marcos Senesi. 1-2 min. 62: thomas. 2-2 min. 69: Ben White. 3-2 min. 97: Reiss Nelson.
Referee Chris Kavanagh
Yellow cards Net (min. 63) and Mepham (min. 85)
Philip Billing, the midfielder for Bournemouth, one of the teams with the fewest goals and the most goals in the Premier, third from bottom and a firm candidate for relegation, brought the championship to a boil in the first minute of his team’s visit to the Emirates. He took Bournemouth out of the center, progressed successfully down the right flank and finished the play on the left, where Billing appeared. He alone, unnoticed, behind the local defense, to intercept a ball that filtered through the area, avoiding legs. The 1-0 in the first minute placed Arsenal before the mountain. The physical, and above all psychological, ramp of spinning plays with finesse to overcome a tight defense of players determined to save their contracts from sales. The news that City were closing in on two points after beating Newcastle in the midday game added anxiety to Arteta’s young team.
Arsenal suffered. It was difficult for him to compose himself, to calm down, to avoid incurring in haste. Martinelli was too individualistic. Saka found himself at the apex of too many attacks. The centers redundant. After almost an hour of siege, the unexpected happened. Bournemouth counterattacked, got a couple of corners, and Marcos Senesi headed in the second. The London fans fell silent. The 0-2 seemed like a sentence. But then the indefatigable Arsenal began to discover gaps in the Bournemouth defence. Lacking the most creative players, the team clung to the collective push. Leading the charge, Thomas Partey. The Ghanaian finished off a corner first (1-2) and set up the equalizer (2-2) that Ben White scored by breaking into the far post. The goals gave oxygen to the climbers. Strength to insist beyond the limit. The timer had exceeded the 96 minutes granted by the referee when Reiss Nelson, a youth player with several sessions in his history, caught the last rejected ball after the last corner. He sent him to the squad and turned Mikel Arteta, his coach, into a wild, jumping man, convulsed with happiness. The stadium was falling.
“I am incredibly happy,” Arteta said on Sky; “This was crazy. I am proud of the players. I always had the feeling that we could come back because I saw the players and they never stopped taking the initiative. It has been my best game in charge of Arsenal. There is nothing like sharing these feelings with your fans”.
premier league working day 26
The afternoon had started in Manchester with an avalanche from Newcastle. The thunderous advance of the players they recruit on the banks of the Tyne sowed stupor in the stands of the Etihad. What the fans saw during the first minutes of the midday game in England was Manchester City’s most failing team in recent months. It was impossible to chain precise passes amid the pressure from Newcastle, a group of athletic and combative players like few others. The test served to measure the wood from which this City is made. Pep Guardiola can rest easy: the thirst for glory has not been quenched among his footballers.
Haaland’s big drop
In the absence of De Bruyne, who remained stationed next to Haaland in the outposts, all the City players applied themselves to offering exits to their team’s game. The extremes, Grealish and Foden, the first. Forced to fight to recover balls that they could not master, City did not lose form. A stroke of luck rewarded the effort when Foden slalomed between the lines, slipped into the box with a tight drive, and sent the ball into the net. The rebound on Botman contributed to disorienting his goalkeeper.
Embarking on the pursuit of Arsenal, the City players displayed all their pride against one of the toughest opponents in the competition. Newcastle, who have never managed to prevail at the Etihad, had a lot at stake after being defeated in the League Cup final. He needed the three points to hold on to the Champions League positions. He spared no fuel in his eagerness to tie. Only after an hour of a tough exercise in resistance and attack could City score the decisive goal. It was achieved by Bernardo Silva, who entered in the second half and combined with Haaland before scoring 2-0. Well tied by the rival center-backs, the Norwegian giant made a drop worthy of a goldsmith on the edge of the area. Silva took advantage of it with a great finish that reaffirmed City in second place, put pressure on Arsenal, and sent Newcastle to fifth place in the standings. Tottenham settled in the fourth, despite losing (1-0) to Wolverhampton.
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