Arsenal, Chelsea Fail To Close Gap
By Tanko Bauka
Chelsea and Arsenal failed to close the gap at the top of the English Barclay Premier League between them and Liverpool FC as the two teams played out a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge stadium on Sunday.
The top-of-the-week clash between the two club best clubs in London as expected lived up to expectations as both teams hit the ground running immediately at the blast of the whistle in the first half signalling the commencement of the week 11 encounter as Chelsea through their most prolific and dangerous player, Cole Palmer fire a wide range volley and was tip over the bar by vigilant Arsenal goalkeeper, David Raya.
Arsenal FC, who have been written off by many football pundits and football fans across the globe, responded with waves of attacks, but Chelsea defended so well to propel their aggressors.
From the other end, the home team, Chelsea, found Arsenal a hard nut to crack, and they went into halftime goalless.
On resumption of the second half, both teams continued from where they stopped looking for an opener which came in the 60 minutes through Gabriel Martinelli to give Arsenal the lead when he was set up by the returning Arsenal captain, Martin Odegaard after Kai Havertz’s goal had earlier been rule out as he was adjudged to be in an offside position when he scored against his former employer.
Chelsea fought back immediately and in the 70 minutes, Pedro Neto rescued a point for the Stamford Bridge landlords, though both teams tried to go for the winner but lacked the cutting edge when it matters, especially for Arsenal.
Liverpool FC had earlier on Saturday in the late-night kickoff beaten Aston Villa 2-0 with goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohammed Salah to open up a ten points gap at the top of the summit.
It was a sad story for Manchester City and their manager, Pep Guardiola who for the first time is losing a four straight match in his career as the Etihad boys were defeated 2-1 by Brighton Albion and Hove while Tottenham Hotspur inconsistency continue as they were beaten by Ipswich Town who won for the first time in their backyard on Sunday.
There is a comfortable 3-0 win for Manchester United against Leicester as they bid their interim manager, Van Nistelrooy farewell in his last match.
In the Spanish LA Liga, FC Barcelona suffered a setback defeat in the hands of Real Sociedad as they were beaten 1-0 by the home team while their arch-rival Real Madrid put 4 goals past Osasuna with Vinicius Jr scoring a hat trick with Jude Bellingham also getting on the mark for his first goal of the season.
In Italy, Inter Milan and Napoli had to settle for a one-all draw, while their neighbours AC Milan also settled for a 3-3 draw with Cagliari, but there was a win for Juventus, Lazio and Atalanta.
In the German Bundesliga, Bayern Munich continued to march on as they seek to wrestle the league title from Bayern Leverkusen as they beat FC St Pauli 1-0
Results across Europe
English Barclays Premier League
Brentford 3- AFC Bournemouth 2
Crystal Palace 0- Fulham 2
West Ham 0- Everton 0
Wolves 2- Southampton 0
Brighton 2- Manchester City 1
Liverpool 2- Aston Villa 0
Manchester United 3- Leicester 0
Nothingham 1- Newcastle 3
Tottenham 1- Ipswich Town 2
Chelsea 1- Arsenal 1
Spanish LA Liga
Rayo Vallacano 2- Las Palmas 3
Real Madrid 4- osasuna 0
Villarreal 3- Deportivo Alaves 0
Laganes 1- Sevilla 0
Real Betis 2- Celta Vigo 2
Mallorca 0- Atlectico Madrid 1
Gatafe 0- Girona 2
Real Valladolid 1- Athletic Bilbao 1
Real Sociedad 1- FC Barcelona 0
Italian Serie A
Lacce 1- Empoli 1
Venezia 1- Parma 2
Cagliari 3- AC Milan 3
Juventus 2- Torino 0
Atalanta 2- Udinese 1
Fiorentina 3- Hellas Verona 1
AS Roma 2- Bologna 3
AC Monza 0- Lazio 1
Inter Milan 1- Napoli 1
German Bundesliga
Union Berlin 0- SC Freiburg 0
Werder Bremen 2- Holstein Kiel 1
Mainz 05 3- Dortmund 1
VFL Bochum 1- Leverkusen 1
FC St Pauli 0- Bayern Munich 1
RB Leipzig 0- Monchenglabach 0
FC Augsburg 0- Hoffenheim 0
Stuttgart 2- Eintrach Frankfurt 3
Heidenheim 2- Wolfsburg 3
