Arsenal opens up 6-point lead in Premier League title race to pile pressure on Man City
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11:11 AM on Saturday, May 2
By STEVE DOUGLAS
All of a sudden, Arsenal has a six-point lead in the Premier League.
Over to you, Manchester City.
In one of its most dominant performances for weeks, Arsenal overpowered Fulham in a 3-0 win on Saturday that transferred the title-race pressure to second-place City.
All of the goals came in the first half, with Viktor Gyokeres scoring twice and setting up the other for Bukayo Saka.
City has two games in hand, the first coming at Everton on Monday. Significantly, Arsenal now has a superior goal difference of 4 compared to City in a title fight that could yet come down to that tiebreaker if both teams win all of their remaining matches.
Arsenal has three left — West Ham away, Burnley at home and Crystal Palace away — in an easier run-in on paper than City's.
“We never stopped believing," Gyokeres said. “We’re not going to.”
It was only 10 days ago that City ended Arsenal's 200-day stay at the top of the league to become, for many, the title favorite.
Pep Guardiola's team hasn't played in the league since and the momentum might just have swung Arsenal's way after its wins over Newcastle last weekend and now a Fulham team which arrived at Emirates Stadium with aspirations of qualifying for a European competition.
Saka, making his first start in six weeks after an Achilles injury, set up Gyokeres for a ninth-minute tap-in before the roles were reversed in the 40th. Gyokeres held up the ball and slipped in Saka, who drove home a finish inside the near post.
Gyokeres grabbed his second goal — and 21st of the season in all competitions — by heading home Leandro Trossard's cross in first-half stoppage time.
A blow for West Ham. A boost for Tottenham.
West Ham's survival bid was damaged by a 3-0 loss at Brentford, for whom Brazil striker Igor Thiago — with a penalty for his 22nd goal of the season — was among the scorers.
It meant West Ham stayed two points above Tottenham, which is in third-to-last place — the final relegation spot.
Spurs, who played in the Champions League this season and have been in the top flight since the late 1970s, visit Aston Villa on Sunday and then there are three more rounds remaining.
Brentford climbed to sixth place, seven points behind fifth-place Aston Villa. The top five qualify automatically for the Champions League.
Newcastle eased some of the pressure on manager Eddie Howe by beating Brighton 3-1 to end a four-match losing run in the league.
“It’s been hard for my family because they see the intimate side of me behind closed doors," Howe said. “I haven’t been a bundle of joy the past few weeks.”
William Osula and Dan Burn were Newcastle's scorers in the first half before Jack Hinshelwood replied for Brighton after the break. Harvey Barnes scored Newcastle's third in stoppage time.
Brighton dropped to seventh place, a point behind Brentford.
There have been three red cards for hair-pulling in the Premier League this season. Twice, the recipient of the pull has been Tolu Arokodare.
The Wolverhampton striker had his hair tugged by Sunderland defender Dan Ballard, resulting in another sending-off for an infringement that has become an increasingly common sight in soccer over the past year.
Sunderland was leading 1-0 at the time through Nordi Mukiele's header at a corner. Santiago Bueno equalized for already-relegated Wolverhampton, the league's last-place club, and it finished 1-1.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
