Arsenal 1-0 Crystal Palace
Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester City
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EBERECHI EZE SCORED against his old club as Arsenal recorded a 1-0 win against Crystal Palace at the Emirates to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League.
Eze fired home from another Arsenal set-piece with a sumptuous half-volley six minutes prior to the interval before Gabriel struck the crossbar in the second half as Arsenal saw out their seventh consecutive victory.
Palace failed to muster a single shot on target against an Arsenal side which has now conceded just three times across 13 matches in all competitions so far. Arsenal’s clean sheet here was their fifth in succession.
It was a far from a spectacular performance from Mikel Arteta’s men, but the triumph takes them four points clear of second-placed Bournemouth in the table, and six ahead of Manchester City following their 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa.
Defending champions Liverpool are a further point off the championship pace.
Arsenal’s defence has been breached by just one team – Manchester City – from open play this season, and, in truth, the south Londoners rarely looked like becoming the second despite a nervier-than-expected finale.
The only sour notes on another day of triumph for Arsenal in their pursuit of a first league title in 22 years arrived with injuries to William Saliba and Rice. The former was replaced at the interval, while the latter hobbled off in the closing stages.
Meanwhile, Matty Cash’s first-half fizzer earned Aston Villa an excellent 1-0 win over Manchester City at Villa Park.
Cash fired home from the edge of the area in the 19th minute and that proved enough for a fourth league win in a row for Villa, who celebrated Unai Emery’s third anniversary in charge in style.
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It was their third successive home victory over Pep Guardiola’s side.
City were stifled excellently by a perfect Villa gameplan and Erling Haaland was stopped from scoring for just the second time this season in all competitions, ending a 12-game spree.
City’s best period of the game came in the opening 10 minutes and they were close to an opener in the sixth minute when Tijjani Reijnders flashed an effort just over from the edge of the area.
But Villa began to take control and the decisive moment of the game arrived in the 19th minute as they went ahead from a set-piece.
They took a short corner to Emiliano Buendia and he crossed the ball to the edge of the area, where Cash collected it before unleashing a low shot across his body that curled into the bottom corner.
City could have been level three minutes later as the in-form Haaland produced an uncharacteristic miss.
Bernardo Silva beat the offside trap and slipped in the Norwegian but his shot was too close to Emiliano Martinez.
After the break, City upped the ante in search of the equaliser and were denied by some heroic defending on the hour as Ezri Konsa blocked Savinho’s fierce shot and then Pau Torres was in position on the goalline to turn over the Brazilian’s second effort.
Jadon Sancho, on as an early sub for the injured Buendia, had a quiet game but could have doubled the lead in the 69th minute when he had two chances from a narrow angle but both were saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The on-loan Manchester United man was himself subbed soon after as the hosts continued to probe, with the excellent Watkins inches away from being able to get on the end of Ross Barkley’s through-ball.
City threw everything forward in search of an equaliser and thought they had found one it in the 89th minute when Haaland slid in at the far post but Phil Foden was offside in the build-up.
Written by Press Association and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.