The Premier League table has a familiar look about it after Manchester City blasted its way back to the top with a 6-1 rout of Bournemouth on Saturday.
Arsenal’s 1-0 loss at Newcastle left the defending champions out in front, at least until Tottenham plays Chelsea on Monday.
Belgium’s Jeremy Doku was in irresistible form — scoring one and creating another four goals — to help City extend its 100% record at home this season and keep the heat on Spurs.
That result also put the pressure on Arsenal to win big at St. James’ Park if it was to move above City on goal difference. Instead, Anthony Gordon’s contested goal inflicted a first league defeat of the season on last year’s runner-up to leave it in third place and in danger of dropping out of the top four depending on results on Sunday.
Both Liverpool and Aston Villa have the chance to move above Arsenal when they play at Luton and Nottingham Forest, respectively. Tottenham, meanwhile, could open up a five-point lead on London rival Arsenal if it beats Chelsea.
ARSENAL ANGER
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was furious after an extensive VAR review allowed Gordon’s 64th-minute goal to stand and Newcastle secured a narrow win.
VAR checked for three possible infringements before giving the goal. There were checks to see if the ball had gone out of play, if there had been a foul and for a possible offside. In the end the goal stood and it proved to be decisive.
“I’ve been 20 years in this country and now I feel ashamed. It’s a disgrace and there’s too much at stake here,” Arteta said. “It’s not good enough. I feel embarrassed to be part of this.”
SAUDI SOCCER
This was a good week for Newcastle and Saudi Arabia’s ambitions in soccer. In the space of a few days, the Saudi-backed club has secured back-to-back wins against two of the traditional giants of the English game after beating Manchester United 3-0 in the League Cup on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia is also all but certain to host the 2034 World Cup after its only rival, Australia, pulled out of the running this week.
UNITED RELIEF
Under-pressure Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was minutes away from a latest setback at Fulham until Bruno Fernandes’ late strike secured a 1-0 win.
Like his coach, Fernandes has also come in for criticism as the sense of crisis at United has deepened, with club great Roy Keane calling for the Portugal international to be stripped of the captaincy. But the midfielder came up with a crucial goal to end his team’s two-game losing streak (in all competitions) in the first minute of stoppage time.
“It’s really important, we know the position we are in,” Fernandes said. “We need to get results, it was massively important for us to get the three points today.
“I know we have even more than we showed today.”
