EPL Round-up: Arsenal maintain five-point gap with late win over Bournemouth

Arsenal’s title ambition in the Premier League got a boost on Saturday when the Gunners rallied from two goals down to beat AFC Bournemouth 3-2 at the Emirates Stadium.

Bournemouth had lost all their games against the Gunners in their last six visits to North London and many had understandably predicted another win for the title chasing Arsenal team.

However the game didn’t go according to script when Arsenal conceded the second fastest goal in Premier League history after Philips Billings scored nine seconds after kickoff.

While it was expected that Mikel Arteta’s men will dust off the shaky start and get into the game, the first half ended 1-0 in favour of the visitors. Arsenal’s bad first half turned worse when in the 57th minute Marco Senesi double Bournemouth’s lead.

However, five minutes after conceding the second goal, Thomas Partey reduced the deficit to 2-1.

In the 70th minute Ben White came good for Arsenal with the equalising goal as the momentum swung in favour of the Gunners.

Now faced with getting the crucial winning goal that would earn them the coveted three points, Arsenal huffed and puffed but there seemed to be no way.

Just when many thought the spoils will be shared, Ries Nelson popped up with the winning goal seven minutes into added time and Arsenal nicked the tie 3-2.

With the maximum points secured, Arsenal maintained their five points lead ahead of Manchester City who had beaten Newcastle United 2-0 in the day’s early kick off.

The Gunners are on 63 points while the Cityzens are on 58 points after both playing 26 games.

Misery for London teams

Aside from Arsenal who managed to secure a nervy home win, all the other London teams except Chelsea had disappointing results in their respective games in the Premier League on Saturday.

While West Ham were hammered 4-0 by high flying Brighton, Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur both suffered lone goal defeats respectively against Aston Villa and Wolverhampton.

For Chelsea, they finally halted their free fall with a lone goal victory over Leeds United.

Wesley Fofana got the all-important goal for the Blues who are still languishing in the 10th position with 34 points from 25 games.