(AFP) - Arsenal restored the difference that separated it from its pursuit of champions Manchester City, by defeating its host and neighbor Fulham 3-0, while Manchester United stumbled again, this time with a goalless draw with its guest, Southampton, Sunday, in the 27th stage of the tournament. Premier League , affected by the expulsion of Brazilian Casemiro.
In London, Arsenal continued its march towards the first title since 2004 and the days of French coach Arsene Wenger, by achieving its fifth successive victory at the expense of its neighbor, who had not tasted victory over the "Gunners" since January 2012 when he beat them 2-1 in the same stadium.
And after City narrowed the difference to two points by defeating the other London club, Crystal Palace, 1-0, on Saturday, Arsenal returned it to five points with its twenty-first victory for the season.
Spanish coach Mikel Arteta's team settled the match in which he regained the services of Brazilian Gabriel Jesus after a four-month absence due to injury, in the first half, after he finished ahead by 3-0.
Arsenal dominated the match from the first whistle and succeeded in compensating for a friendly fire goal scored by American Anthony Robinson by mistake due to the offside of Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli, by opening the scoring in the 21st minute through the other Brazilian Gabriel with a header following a corner kick carried out by the Belgian Leandro Trossard.
Then Martinelli quickly added his twelfth personal goal in the league this season, also from a header, following a cross from Trossard (26), who imposed himself as the star of the match par excellence because he was also behind the third goal after he delivered the ball to the Norwegian Martin Odegaard after a quick counterattack, so he controlled it. The latter hit his chest before firing it into the net of German goalkeeper Bernd Leno (45+2).
Thus, the Belgian became the first player to make three assists during the first half of an away match in the history of the Premier League, according to "Opta" statistics.
The Belgian commented in a statement to "Sky Sports" about his presentation, saying, "When we win, you are always happy. We knew it was a difficult match. We did a really good job... It's a perfect victory for us," expressing his "happiness" with the three assists because " I always try to contribute. Today things went just as I wanted them to."
For the remainder of the season, "Now we have 11 finals ahead of us. We'll take it one game at a time. Today we played a great game."
Captain Odegaard praised his Belgian colleague, saying, "He brings a lot of great things to the team. I love playing with him. He's good at making the right pass. We're really happy to have him in our team" after his arrival to the London club in January from Brighton.
Arsenal's performance declined in the second half, coinciding with the awakening of Fulham, who threatened goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale on more than one occasion and hit the crossbar through Tosin Aradapioyo's header (70).
But the result remained the same until the end of the match, which saw Jesus enter in the 77th minute instead of Trossard, to record his return to the London team after recovering from knee surgery he underwent as a result of his injury with his country in November while participating in the Qatar World Cup.
At Old Trafford, Manchester United stumbled again, this time with a goalless draw at home to Southampton, affected by a numerical shortage in its ranks since the 34th minute after Casemiro received his second red card this season as a result of a harsh mistake on Argentine Carlos Alcaras, which means he can be suspended. for four matches.
Dutch coach Eric ten Hag's team entered the match on the back of its historic humiliating defeat in the last stage at home to rivals Liverpool by seven clean.
It seemed that the "Red Devils" put behind them this humiliating defeat by defeating Spain's Real Betis 4-1 in the first leg of the Europa League final.
But the expulsion of Casemiro, who first received a yellow card before the referee reversed his decision after reviewing the “VAR” and raised the red, held his mission on Sunday and forced him to settle for a point that raised his tally to 50 points in third place, 16 points behind leaders Arsenal and two points from Tottenham fourth. Saturday's winner over Nottingham Forest 3-1.
After a series of three draws and two defeats in the past five stages, Newcastle returned to the winning streak and took advantage of Liverpool's fall on Saturday against Bournemouth (0-1) to remove it from fifth place, by beating its guest, Wolverhampton, 2-1.
Newcastle, who played two matches less than the fourth Tottenham, who is ahead by 4 points, owes its eleventh victory to Paraguayan Miguel Almiron, who gave him the three points nearly 10 minutes after entering from the bench, in a meeting that the landowner finished his first half ahead of through the Swedish Alexander Isaac (26). ) before South Korean Hee-Chan Hwang equalized for the guests in the second half (70).
West Ham, who is fighting to avoid relegation to the second level, contented themselves with a point of equalization with its guest Aston Villa, with a goal by Algerian Saeed Ben Rahma (26 from a penalty kick) against a goal by Ollie Watkins (17), raising his score to 24 points in the seventeenth place, on goal difference in front of Bournemouth is the eighteenth, while its guest score is 35, in the eleventh place.