IMAGE: Aston Villa’s players celebrate after Emiliano Buendia scored the winner in the 95th minute against Arsenal. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters
Aston Villa ended Premier League leaders Arsenal’s long unbeaten run as Emiliano Buendia scored with virtually the last kick of the game to secure a 2-1 victory that put his side right in the title mix at Villa Park on Saturday.
It looked as though Leandro Trossard’s equaliser would extend Arsenal’s run without a defeat to 19 games in all competitions but a scintillating duel was decided in dramatic fashion when Buendia fired home after a late scramble.
Matty Cash drove home a low shot to give Villa the lead in the 39th minute to reward his side’s adventure.
IMAGE: Emiliano Buendia fired home the winner goal after a late scramble. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters
Arsenal responded after the break with Trossard equalising from close range seven minutes after the restart after Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez deflected a ball into his path.
After that it was a whirlwind of attacking play with both sides unwilling to settle for a point. But it was Villa who secured the win to the delight of their fans.
Villa moved into second place, three points behind Arsenal who suffered only their second league loss of the season.
Manchester City narrow gap in table
IMAGE: Josko Gvardiol celebrates scoring Manchester City’s second goal against Sunderland during the English Premier League match at Etihad Stadium, Manchester, on Saturday. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
Manchester City’s centre backs Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol struck less than four minutes apart in the first half in a 3-0 thrashing of Sunderland that tightened the Premier League title race and kept the pressure firmly on leaders Arsenal.
Phil Foden also scored — his fifth goal in three games — as second-placed City seized the opportunity of Arsenal’s 2-1 loss at Aston Villa earlier in the day to climb within two points of the leaders with 31 points after 15 games. Sunderland were provisionally seventh on 23 points.
While Pep Guardiola’s men dominated possession, neither side really threatened in the first half before Dias ended the deadlock in the 31st minute with a rocket from 30 yards out that took a slight deflection off Dan Ballard. Less than four minutes later, Foden whipped in a cross that Gvardiol leapt to head home.
Foden netted his own in the 65th minute with a goal that was all about Rayan Cherki’s jaw-dropping Rabona assist, a chip that Foden needed only to head home and then had the England midfielder shaking his head in disbelief at Cherki’s skill.
“I worked for that, I know my quality, my quality is my technique, when I play with Phil, Erling (Haaland), Omar (Marmoush), it’s very important to give the good balls for them,” Cherki told the BBC.
“Phil is a great player, he works for the team, runs for the team.”
IMAGE: Phil Foden scores Manchester City’s third goal. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
Sunderland ended the game with 10 men after Luke O’Nien was shown a red card for a bad foul deep in added time.
City’s victory could have been even more lopsided. Haaland, who on Tuesday became the fastest player in history to score 100 Premier League goals, had a second-half shot cleared off the line after Cherki beat two men in the buildup.
Cherki had a great late-game chance when he beat Sunderland’s back line before cutting back and firing a low left-footed effort that Roefs dove right to push out of danger.
“Today it was a great game,” Cherki told Sky Sports. “We don’t want to concede goals and today we didn’t. Perfect day.
“We take the game one after one. We want to work for wins and games.”
There had been pre-game cheers at Etihad Stadium when Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendia scored the 95th-minute winner that sank Arsenal.
But a City victory felt far from certain after they had to fight off a ferocious comeback in a 5-4 win at Fulham on Tuesday. Sunderland have been excellent in their return to the top flight, taking points off Arsenal, Chelsea and, most recently, champions Liverpool in a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Wednesday.
“One of the best performances of the season against a team that’s done so much so far with top six,” Guardiola said. “The way you play, the way you perform is what tells you what’s going to happen in the future.
“We didn’t concede much … and we created three chances.”
Blunt Bournemouth hold Chelsea
IMAGE: Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo attempts a shot at goal against Chelsea. Photograph: Tony O Brien/Reuters
Bournemouth and Chelsea played to a frenetic 0-0 Premier League draw at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday in a contest in which both sides lacked the quality in the opposition box to force a winner.
The draw leaves Chelsea in fourth place in the table with 25 points from their 15 games, while Bournemouth’s dismal run continued having now taken two points from the last 18 available. They are in 13th with 20 points from 15 games.
The home side were the better team in the first half but could not make their possession count as Antoine Semenyo had an effort ruled out for offside and Evanilson missed an open goal from a yard out when it seemed easier to score.
Chelsea improved after the break and struck the post via Alejandro Garnacho, but they snatched at the other chances that came their way and played to their first goalless draw since a home clash with Crystal Palace in August.
“Coming from a loss in the last game (at Leeds United), we wanted to redeem ourselves,” Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez told Premier League Productions.
“I think we played well. We kept a clean sheet and didn’t lose the game. We take the point and go into the next game needing three points.
“I didn’t have much to do, so I was getting a bit cold. Semenyo will get a shot off at any moment so you have to be ready and I was. We know what our goal is and our quality. We have to keep going.”
Chelsea lost striker Liam Delap to what looked a dislocated shoulder in the first half and missed his physical presence up front, something that could be a factor in the coming weeks.
Semenyo had the ball in the back of the net inside four minutes but Evanilson was offside in the build-up.
The latter missed an open net when Semenyo’s shot was parried by Sanchez, but the Brazilian skied the ball at the back post when he had a tap-in.
Chelsea did not have a shot on target in the first half but Garnacho hit the frame of the goal with a header early in the second period, and at the other end Semenyo warmed the palms of Sanchez with a rasping shot.
“A draw is a fair result, it’s even better when there’s a clean sheet,” Bournemouth keeper Djordje Petrovic said. “We had our chances, they had their chances. The intensity and the quality of the football was good.”
