Premier League: Burnley 0 Arsenal 5
Bukayo Saka struck twice as Arsenal romped to a 5-0 victory at lifeless Burnley and extended their winning run to a fifth successive Premier League match.
Mikel Arteta’s title-chasing Gunners kept the pressure on Liverpool and Manchester City by making light work of what was always expected to be a straightforward Saturday assignment.
Martin Odegaard lashed Arsenal into an early lead at Turf Moor and they never looked back, with Saka’s brace complemented by Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz efforts as they battered Burnley 5-0.
Kevin Kilbane: Hallgrímsson taking the first steps to making Ireland competitive again
Ange Postecoglou says some of the criticism he receives is offensive and disrespectful
Pep Guardiola rules out dropping Erling Haaland as Manchester City struggle for form
Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards: ‘The greatest collection of women in Irish sport in one place ever assembled’
This is the first time that the north Londoners have ever begun a calendar year with five league wins on the bounce and that outcome appeared to be on the cards within four minutes of kick-off.
Odegaard hammered Arsenal ahead and Saka scored from the spot just before the break, adding to his double in last week’s stunning 6-0 win at West Ham.
The forward completed another brace before Trossard and Havertz added gloss as suspended boss Vincent Kompany watched his hapless team crumble from the stands.
There were some boos at the final whistle and an air of resignation around Turf Moor before kick-off – little wonder given their five-point haul on home soil is the worst in the Premier League.
That feeling of Burnley pessimism only grew inside four minutes as Arsenal’s first attack brought the opening goal.
Gabriel Martinelli’s cross from the left deflected off Lorenz Assignon and reached Odegaard on the edge of the box.
The Arsenal skipper took a smart touch and continued to laser a left-footed strike beyond James Trafford into the bottom corner.
That goal increased the incline on what was already an uphill challenge for the lacklustre Clarets, who Craig Bellamy was leading from the touchline.
David Raya denied a Wilson Odobert threat on a rare Burnley attack, with quick, sharp build-up play making life hard for the stumbling hosts at the other end.
Arsenal continued to knock on the door and their second came from the spot in the 41st minute.
Havertz played a quick ball on to Trossard in the box, with the forward going down under a challenge from Assignon.
The defender’s appeals fell on deaf ears and Trafford guessed correctly, but Saka’s spot-kick was just out of the goalkeeper’s reach.
This is the first time in the England star’s career that he has scored in four consecutive Premier League games, and he added his second of the day in the 47th minute.
Slipped through by patient Odegaard, Saka smartly made space under pressure to hammer past Trafford at his near post.
A bad afternoon for Burnley got worse when midfielder Aaron Ramsey sustained a nasty-looking injury after challenging with Odegaard.
There was a lengthy break in play as he received treatment before being taken off on a stretcher.
Trossard was guilty of two poor misses when play resumed, but he would sweep home from close range in the 66th minute to spark a mass exit.
Substitute Eddie Nketiah headed wide before Havertz added a fifth in the 78th minute as Burnley continued to flounder.
Jakub Kiwior’s throw-in caught out the hosts’ defence and put Havertz behind, with the summer signing cutting through Hannes Delcroix’s legs before scoring.
Substitute Jacob Bruun Larsen and Josh Brownhill tried to score a consolation between Odegaard seeing a free-kick saved as 10 minutes of second-half stoppage time came and went without another goal.
Tottenham 1 Wolves 2
Tottenham’s top-four hopes suffered a blow after a Joao Gomes brace fired Wolves to a deserved 2-1 away win in north London.
Spurs had claimed back fourth spot from Aston Villa with a last-gasp victory over Brighton last weekend but struggled to break down Gary O’Neil’s side.
Gomes headed Wolves ahead in the 42nd minute and, while Dejan Kulusevski levelled for Tottenham straight after half-time, Pedro Neto’s wonderful solo run settled the contest.
Neto raced half the length of the pitch before he teed up Gomes to side-foot home with 63 minutes played to earn the visitors to a fourth win from their last five matches.
There was a big contingent of South Korea fans inside the stadium with two of the nations’ best going head-to-head and Hwang Hee-chan should have scored in the fifth minute.
Wolves worked the ball out wide to Nelson Semedo, who was denied by Guglielmo Vicario and Hwang inexplicably sliced over the rebound from close range.
Spurs threatened for the first time soon after when Ben Davies fired over on the turn before the visitors created another promising opportunity but Rayan Ait-Nouri curled straight at Vicario.
The stop-start nature to the contest continued although Tottenham enjoyed a rare foray into the away penalty area with 36 minutes played only for Kulusevski to side foot well wide from James Maddison’s pass.
Wolves had frustrated the hosts’ well, while also proving a threat and made their dominance count with 42 minutes on the clock.
From Wolves’ second corner of the match Pablo Sarabia picked out Gomes, who headed into the top corner after being given too much space.
It was a deserved breakthrough but sparked a frantic finish to the half with Vicario pushing wide a curler by Sarabia, who was offside before the same player flashed an effort off target.
Ange Postecoglou’s team did test Jose Sa through Emerson Royal but it stayed 1-0 at the break.
It meant Tottenham had failed to score in the first half of five consecutive home matches, although they quickly hit their straps after half-time.
The equaliser arrived 34 seconds into the second half and it was all about Kulusevski.
Richarlison knocked the ball into the path of the Sweden international, who dribbled past Craig Dawson close to the byline before he poked under Sa for a superb sixth goal of the season.
Spurs were pushing for a second but Wolves remained dangerous, especially on the break and Vicario impressively denied Sarabia after Semedo’s cross.
Back came Tottenham with Kulusevski’s low effort excellently tipped wide by Sa before Semedo blocked another shot from the Swedish forward in the 63rd minute.
It earned the hosts another corner but they were hit with a sucker-punch after a moment of individual brilliance by Neto.
Yves Bissouma lost possession on the edge of Wolves’ penalty area and Neto carried the ball half the length of the pitch before he cut inside Emerson and teed up Gomes, who slammed home for his second of the afternoon.
Tottenham attempted to respond straight away and Maddison curled over before Postecoglou turned to his bench with Rodrigo Bentancur, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner sent on.
Chances remained at a premium until Kulusevski picked out the unmarked Davies deep into stoppage-time but the Welsh defender headed well wide to ensure Wolves completed the double over Spurs.
Newcastle 2 Bournemouth 2
Substitute Matt Ritchie came to Newcastle’s rescue as they fought back twice to snatch a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth in an incident-packed Premier League game at St James’ Park.
Ritchie had only been on the pitch for seconds when he scored in stoppage time, cancelling out Antoine Semenyo’s stunning strike just as it looked like the visitors would emerge with all three points.
Dominic Solanke’s 16th goal – and third against Eddie Howe’s men – of the season had given the Cherries the lead, but Anthony Gordon levelled with a contentiously-awarded penalty in front of a crowd of 52,224 which included sporting director Dan Ashworth, whose pursuit by Manchester United had thrust him into the headlines this week.
Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto enjoyed a stroke of good fortune when Gordon charged down his attempted clearance and saw the ball ricochet across his goal and wide of the far post, and his side might have gone ahead twice within seconds in the 16th minute.
First Martin Dubravka saved from Marcus Tavernier’s long-range effort and then denied Solanke after Justin Kluivert, playing against one of his father Patrick’s former clubs, had carved his way into the Magpies penalty area.
The Slovakia international spared Newcastle once again with an instinctive 24th-minute block from Solanke after he had met Tavernier’s cross.
Miguel Almiron whistled a curling left-foot shot just wide after exchanging passes with Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schar warmed Neto’s hands from distance five minutes before the break, but there was to be no breakthrough before the half-time whistle.
In a scrappy start to the second half, Almiron drilled a 49th-minute attempt just over the bar after running on to Longstaff’s pass and sidestepping defender Illya Zabarnyi, but it was the visitors who took a 51st-minute lead thanks to a gift from Dubravka.
The keeper slipped after controlling Sven Botman’s back-pass and in the process served up a tap-in for Solanke.
Bournemouth’s lead lasted just seven minutes as the Magpies got themselves back on terms in controversial fashion.
Referee Michael Salisbury, who until that point had done little to endear himself to the home fans, was advised to review Adam Smith’s challenge on Schar inside the area and after a lengthy spell at the pitchside monitor pointed to the spot, much to Cherries boss Andoni Iraola’s disbelief.
In the absence of the injured Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson, Gordon took charge and dispatched his spot-kick firmly past Neto to level.
Kluivert fired wastefully over after Solanke had made a nuisance of himself and Marcos Senesi sent the ball inches wide of his own goal as he attempted to cut out Bruno Guimaraes’ cross with both sides going for victory.
The visitors regained the advantage with 21 minutes remaining when Semenyo picked up possession in space down the right and drew full-back Dan Burn before thumping a low shot past the helpless Dubravka.
Dubravka had to be at his best to claw away Lewis Cook’s deflected shot, setting the stage for Ritchie to level in the second of 10 minutes of added time, stabbing home from close range against his former club after his header from Guimaraes’ cross had been blocked by Cook.
Nottingham Forest 2 West Ham 0
Nottingham Forest won for the first time in 2024 and boosted their Premier League survival chances with a 2-0 success over West Ham, who had Kalvin Phillips sent off.
Forest were teetering just two points above the drop zone after a run of four games without a victory, but goals in added time in either half from Taiwo Awoniyi and Callum Hudson-Odoi put that right against an out-of-sorts Hammers.
Awoniyi struck before the break with a fine finish while Hudson-Odoi converted from close range at the death to give themselves a bit of breathing space at the foot of the table.
They are far from out of danger, though, especially with a possible points deduction for breaking Premier League financial rules hanging over them, but this should boost their confidence.
The Hammers never really showed up at the City Ground and their top-six hopes took another hit, six days on from their home thrashing by Arsenal.
Phillips’ miserable personal season continued as he saw red for two quick-fire yellow cards in the second half while David Moyes will come under renewed pressure with away fans displaying a banner asking for their manager to be sacked.
After last weekend’s hammering, Moyes would have been keen for a low-key start in their own penalty area, but they could have been behind after only four minutes.
Nuno Tavares advanced down the left and picked out Anthony Elanga, whose drilled first-time shot was kept out by the feet of Alphonse Areola.
The French goalkeeper continued to be the busiest as he produced strong hands to keep out Morgan Gibbs-White’s stinging effort and then did well to block Awoniyi as the striker tried to round him.
In between those two moments, West Ham had their only real dangerous attack as Michail Antonio took advantage of a Felipe mistake and raced clear into the area, but was tackled by Murillo at the vital moment.
Forest made the deserved breakthrough as they took the lead in the fifth minute of first-half added time with a fine finish from Awoniyi.
With his back to goal on the penalty area, he received the ball from Nicolas Dominguez, spun Nayef Aguerd and slotted past Areola.
Areola was again in action early in the second half as he tipped Elanga’s volley over the crossbar, while Awoniyi headed another chance over and Danilo’s fierce volley was palmed away by the overworked Hammers keeper.
West Ham’s hopes of a comeback were hit in the 70th minute as Phillips picked up his second yellow card in the space of two minutes and 56 seconds and had to walk.
Elanga volleyed over soon after before Forest were denied what looked a clear penalty when Maxwel Cornet appeared to clip Neco Williams but VAR decided not to overturn Thomas Bramall’s decision.
Elanga then skied another effort when Hudson-Odoi teed him up with a slick attack on the break, so the former Chelsea winger took matters into his own hands at the death slamming home a loose ball from close range.
Fulham 1 Aston Villa 2
Ollie Watkins’ double helped Aston Villa to a 2-1 victory over a spirited Fulham at Craven Cottage.
The striker took his Premier League tally to 12 for the season and was the difference maker for Unai Emery’s men in west London.
Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz scored his fourth in three games but Villa dug in during the second half to claim all three points.
Villa fired an early warning shot when Watkins’ goal was chalked off for offside. John McGinn slipped the attacker through but the linesman deemed him to have moved too soon as Fulham avoided an early scare.
Muniz started over illness-stricken Armando Broja up front and the Brazilian looked to continue his rich vein of form, getting on the end of Andreas Pereira’s through ball before firing his effort over the bar.
After Fulham had a goal of their own ruled offside from a set-piece, Villa punished a series of errors and took the lead.
The usually reliable Antonee Robinson had a moment to forget when his throw-in put Willian under immense pressure at the back before Watkins powered the winger off the ball, marauding into the box and drilling his effort past Bernd Leno into the left-hand corner.
Fulham’s sloppiness continued and Leon Bailey looked to inflict more misery on Robinson. The pacy Jamaica international turned the left-back inside out with intricate skill before his curved strike cannoned off the bar, much to the relief of Marco Silva’s men.
The visitors turned the screw and doubled their lead through the clinical Watkins.
Villa’s number 11 caught Issa Diop napping, finding a gap to get on the end of Youri Tielemans’ pass before he picked his head up, paused and blasted his effort into his favourite left-hand post to claim a brace.
But after 63 minutes Fulham scored on the break to blow the game wide open.
Robinson redeemed a poor a first half with a golden delivery from the left into the six-yard box, finding Muniz who poked the ball past Emiliano Martinez to give the Cottagers hope.
Silva turned to the bench in the form of Alex Iwobi and Adama Traore.
Iwobi, fresh from his Africa Cup of Nations campaign with Nigeria, forced Martinez into action with a driven shot across goal before Traore ghosted Alex Moreno and tested the Villa defence with a dangerous cross.
Traore went one-on-one during five added minutes but was denied by Martinez.
