LONDON, Sporting Alert – Leicester City opened a five-point gap on Tottenham in the race for the English Premier League title this season, after the Gunners and Spurs ended 2-2.
Ten-man Arsenal battled to a 2-2 draw with Tottenham in their North London derby at White Hart Lane on Saturday, a result that made the Foxes big time winners even before they kick-off in the later game.
GUNNERS HELD ON THE ROAD
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side, which took the lead through Aaron Ramsey in the 39th minute, was reduced to 10 players after Francis Coquelin was sent off for a second yellow card following a poor tackle on Harry Kane in the 55th minute.
After Ramsey gave Arsenal the lead heading into the halftime break, Toby Alderweireld and Kane scored two-minutes apart to give Tottenham a 2-1 lead shortly after the hour mark.
However, Alexis Sanchez netted in the 76th minute to earn the Gunners a share of the points.
BIG RESULT FOR LEICESTER
The draw, really, though, was more beneficial to leaders Leicester City, as both teams failed to close the gap on the Premier League front-runners.
The Foxes edged Watford 1-0 to extend their lead at the top of table standings to five points.
Playmaker Riyad Mahrez netted in the 56th minute — his 15th Premier League goal of the season — and the goal turned out to be the winner for the visitors at Vicarage Road.
“It was an important win, a big battle,” Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri said. “Now there will be only battles for everybody not just for us.
“A tough match. We created four or five chances, they created two or three. We are so happy now.”
Although the bookies are backing the Foxes to go on and win the Premier League title this season, Ranieri believes there is still a lot of work to do.
“The title is not ours. We have to fight a lot, step by step and keep our feet on the ground,” he said.
“At the end we can see what happens. I’m sorry, we know every team can win or lose so it has to be slowly slowly.”
CRAZINESS AT GOODISON PARK
At Goodison Park, West Ham United staged a gallant comeback to beat 10-man Everton 3-2 after midfielder Kevin Mirallas was sent off for a second booking in the 34th minute for the hosts.
Michail Antonio and Diafra Sakho scored headers before Dimitri Payet completed the comeback for West Ham in the 90th minute after Everton had taken a 2-0 lead.
Romelu Lukaku and Aaron Lennon gave Everton a 2-0 advantage before the hour mark, but Lukaku also missed a penalty kick which would have given the hosts a 3-0 lead with 20 minutes to play.
In other Premier League scores on Saturday, Bournemouth piled further pressure on Newcastle United boss Steve McClaren after downing the hosting 3-2, Swansea City edged Norwich City 1-0, Manchester City got hot late in the second half to beat Aston Villa 4-0 while Southampton and Sunderland ended 1-1, as did Chelsea and Stoke City.
Premier League Scores
Saturday, March 5
Tottenham 1-1 Arsenal
Leicester City 1-0 Watford
Everton 2-3 West Ham
Swansea City 1-0 Norwich
Southampton 1-1 Sunderland
Manchester City 4-0 Aston Villa
Chelsea 1-1 Stoke
Newcastle 1-3 Bournemouth
Leave a Reply