Antony of Manchester United celebrates after scoring the crew’s first objective through the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United at City Ground on April 16, 2023 in Nottingham, England
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
Another week, one other Arsenal stumble. Mikel Arteta has a job on his fingers to maintain his crew’s title problem on monitor.
It was a case of historical past repeating itself because the Premier League leaders let one other two-goal lead slip and dropped beneficial factors for the second week in a row. A 2-2 draw with West Ham on Sunday adopted the identical rating line in opposition to Liverpool seven days earlier.
It’s a expensive behavior to choose up, particularly at a time when the wins are rolling in for second-place Manchester City.
While all of it seems to be really easy for defending champion City, which recorded a tenth straight victory in all competitions by beating Leicester 3-1 on Saturday, Arsenal’s kind is wobbling.
As if back-to-back attracts weren’t dangerous sufficient for Arteta, it’s the nature of his crew’s mini-meltdowns in opposition to Liverpool and West Ham that will probably be of most concern.
On each events Arsenal was cruising. But on the London Stadium, identical to at Anfield, the Londoners unraveled when beneath strain.
“My worry is after 2-0 that we made that huge mistake and did not understand what the game required in that moment,” Arteta said. “We need that ruthless mindset to go kill a team and today we haven’t done it.”
Even after dropping 4 factors in two video games, Arsenal stays 4 factors away from City having performed a recreation extra. But its lead over City was eight factors lower than a month in the past.
City additionally has a greater objective distinction.
Arsenal performs City at Etihad Stadium in a pivotal recreation on April 26 and Arteta should hope the wounding current outcomes is not going to be too damaging to his gamers’ confidence.
“We have to recollect we’re nonetheless prime of the league with every part in our personal fingers,” Odegaard said.
Man United goes 3rd
Manchester United had a collapse of its own against Sevilla in the Europa League when throwing away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2, but there was no repeat of that at Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Leading 1-0 through Antony’s goal in the 32nd, Erik ten Hag’s team piled the pressure on relegation-fighting Forest and sealed the 2-0 win through Diogo Dalot in the 76th.
Victory saw United take advantage in the race for Champions League qualification after defeats for rivals Newcastle and Tottenham on Saturday.
United moved up to third, three points ahead of Newcastle.
While Antony scored one goal and provided the assist for another, the return of Christian Eriksen for his first start since hurting his ankle in January was a timely boost for Ten Hag as the injuries mount for United.
Marcel Sabitzer was a late withdrawal after picking up an injury while warming up at City Ground. The on-loan Austrian midfielder joins Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane, Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw on the list of key absentees for United.
“You see how quickly things can change,” Ten Hag said. “Last week we had nine top-fit defenders, today we had four. We need the numbers, we are one of the few teams in three competitions … We are in a lot of games, we need the numbers to stay in those competitions because we want to bring a good team every time onto the pitch.”
Eriksen only started because of Sabitzer’s injury but looked like he had never been away with a classy performance in the heart of midfield.
“It’s the nature, a natural talent, everything is going so smooth with him, so many skills, game understanding,” Ten Hag said, adding “when you bring on Christian it’s not a disadvantage for your team and he proved it.”
Relegation battle
While West Ham picked up a valuable point against Arsenal to move four points from the relegation zone, Hammers manager David Moyes said Saka’s penalty miss was a crucial moment in the game.
“Sometimes the fine lines are so small,” Moyes said. “They received a penalty and at 3-1 it will be troublesome. We received a little bit of fortune, however then we grew and I fairly fancied us to get a 3rd one.”
Meanwhile Forest supervisor Steve Cooper was dismayed by the failure to award his crew a spot kick when United’s Harry Maguire appeared to deal with the ball with the sport nonetheless at 0-0.
“I am not going to say it is the absolute reason why we lost the game, but I think it is a definite penalty from Maguire and possibly a second yellow card and could be a game changer,” Cooper stated.
Forest stays within the backside three with Cooper beneath rising strain.
