Arsenal Kick Starts 2025 On A Promising Note
By Tanko Bauka
Arsenal football club kick-started the new year,2025 with a well-deserved victory against Brentford to close the gap on premier league leader Liverpool to six points as Gabriel Jesus extended his scoring streak in a 3-1 win at the Gtech community stadium, the home ground of Brentford in west London in the week 19 encounter of the English Barclays Premier League to move into second place above Nottingham Forest which temporarily occupied the second position after a 2-0 win over Everton.
Mikel Arteta’s side was rocked by Bryan Mbeumo’s first-half goal in the 13 minutes, but Arsenal refused to give up as Gabriel Jesus equalised before half-time to restore parity.
On resumption of the second half, Arsenal upped their game, and Mikel Merino put the visitors ahead in the 50 minutes.
In the 53 minutes, Gabriel Martinelli scored to ensure that Arsenal travelled back to north London with the three points.
In the week 20 encounter, Manchester United have another stern test to overcome as they travel to Anfield Stadium to take on the league leader, Liverpool.
The Red Devils need to avoid any slip at this stage so as not to plunge into the relegation battle while Liverpool too would want to go all out for the three points to ensure they don’t give room for any complexity as Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Newcastle as well as Manchester City are lurking behind ready to pounce anytime.
Tottenham Hotspur welcome Newcastle to salvage their season as they are the most inconsistent team this season.
Crystal Palace will ambush their London neighbours, Chelsea, seeking to further slow any momentum the Enzo Marasca boys would want to mount following their recent poor results.
Brighton Hove Albion will entertain Arsenal as Manchester City welcomes West Ham to Etihad Stadium as Pep Guardiola seeks to find a solution to his side’s recent misfortune; the weekend Fixtures will be rounded off on Monday as resurgent Wolves under Viktor Peraira welcome another in-form team, Nottingham Forest.
In the Italian Serie A, Fiorentina take on Napoli, AS Roma play Lazio while Hellas Verona host Udinese, and AC Monza slug it out with Cagliari.
Juventus, AC Milan, Atalanta and Inter Milan will not be involved in the league this weekend as they take on each other in the Italian Super Cup.
Fixtures across Europe
English Barclays Premier League
Saturday
Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
Manchester City vs West Ham
AFC Bournemouth vs Everton
Southampton vs Brentford
Aston Villa vs Leicester
Brighton Albion vs Arsenal
Sunday
Fulham vs Ipswich Town
Liverpool vs Manchester United
Monday
Wolves vs Nottingham Forest
Italian Serie A
Saturday
Venezia vs Empoli
Fiorentina vs Napoli
Hellas Verona vs Udinese
Sunday
AC Monza vs Cagliari
Lacce vs Genoa
Torino vs Parma
AS Roma vs Lazio
Italian Super Cup
Juventus vs AC Milan
Inter Milan vs Atalanta.
