Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

EPL PHOTOS: Arsenal win 17th game on trot...

Last updated on: November 26, 2018 12:39 IST

Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates scoring their second goal against AFC Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium on Sunday

IMAGE: Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates scoring their second goal against AFC Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium on Sunday. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images via Reuters

Arsenal extended their unbeaten run to 17 games in all competitions on Sunday with a 2-1 victory at Bournemouth that moved them within a point of the Premier League's top four.

 

The home team's record signing Jefferson Lerma, who cost 25 million pounds ($32 million) in August, scored a spectacular own goal to give Arsenal the lead but Norwegian international Josh King, back in the Bournemouth side after injury, equalised just before halftime.

That meant Unai Emery's team have still never led at the halfway stage of a league game since he joined in the close-season.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang slid in the Gunners' second goal in the 68th minute and their three-man back line held out, although Lerma hit a post.

Arsenal can make up ground on their big local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who are still three points ahead of them, by winning the north London derby next weekend.

Bournemouth stayed eighth after a third successive defeat in a testing period, with fixtures against leaders Manchester City and second-placed Liverpool to come in the first eight days of December.

Arsenal's Sokratis Papastathopoulos in action during the match against Bourmouth 

IMAGE: Arsenal's Sokratis Papastathopoulos in action during the match against Bourmouth. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images via Reuters

They felt unfortunate in having an early effort by David Brooks controversially disallowed for offside, but tended to cause their own problems by losing possession too easily.

Arsenal's Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira took advantage following the Brooks incident and shot against a post.

Soon afterwards, however, the ball was lost again and there was no reprieve as Lerma volleyed a cutback from Sead Kolasinac into his own net.

It was a turnaround of fortune for the Colombia international, who scored his first goal for the club in the previous game at Newcastle United.

Arsenal were denied a rare halftime lead when Callum Wilson and Brooks broke to feed King for a fine finish.

Another mistake by Lerma gave Aubameyang a good chance but he shot carelessly high, before scoring his eighth league goal of the season following a short free kick. Alex Iwobi fed Kolasinac for another assist from the left flank.

"We knew it would be a tough game," Aubameyang said.

"We spoke at halftime and knew we had to come back with intensity and aggression."

Huddersfield off the bottom after Mooy brace at Wolves

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Willy Boly and Huddersfield Town's Aaron Mooy vie for possession during their EPL match at Molineux Stadium on Wolverhampton on Sunday

IMAGE: Wolverhampton Wanderers' Willy Boly and Huddersfield Town's Aaron Mooy vie for possession during their EPL match at Molineux Stadium on Wolverhampton on Sunday. Photograph: Andrew Yates/Reuters

Huddersfield Town shot up six places from the bottom of the Premier League with a 2-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers thanks to Aaron Mooy's double on Sunday.

The Terriers had more bite than the toothless Wolves, who suffered a fourth defeat in five games and remained 11th.

Australian Mooy scored his first two goals of the season.

His first, in the sixth minute, was perfectly placed from the edge of the penalty area. The second in the 74th came directly from an equally precise low free kick.

Wolves, having struggled to get into the game, improved after making a double substitution at the break but the closest they came to a goal was when Mexican Raul Jimenez had a header hooked off the line by Philip Billing.

"When you get into a bad patch, it feels like it's never going to end," said Mooy, who was outstanding in midfield.

"Now it's two wins and a draw and we need to keep riding the train."

Billing added: "We showed how good we can be when everyone's at it."

Huddersfield's German manager David Wagner said the game-plan had been to dominate the ball and not allow Wolves to play.

"We wanted to beat them with their own weapon," he said.

"But it's all about the players, not the game-plan. Their spirit and aggression were great.

"We know we're not as poor as everybody thinks we are."

The early goal was deserved reward for Huddersfield's bright start. It came from a sharp move down the left with Billing setting German Erik Durm free to cross for Mooy, who controlled his shot perfectly to find the bottom corner of the net.

Wolves sent on teenager Morgan Gibbs-White and forward Adama Traore at halftime but a recovery was denied by the thinnest margin when goal-line technology confirmed Billing's acrobatic clearance had just managed to keep out Jimenez's header.

Mooy's free kick for his second goal meant it was the first time Town had scored more than once in a match since beating West Bromwich Albion 2-1 away in February.

They will go down one place after Burnley (16th) play at home to Newcastle United (15th) on Monday but, after failing to win in the first 10 games of the season, Wagner and his players will take great heart from seven points in their last three.

Source: REUTERS
© Copyright 2024 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.