Premier League: Arsenal thrash Villa to end year 5 points clear at the top
London, Dec 31 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Arsenal ended the year on top of the Premier League table after an outstanding second-half showing saw the Gunners cruise past third-placed Aston Villa 4-1.
This was the Gunners’ fourth straight victory as they ended Villa’s 11-match winning run in all competitions.
Villa showed enough in the first half to suggest they could achieve a club-record 12th straight win in all competitions, but the Gunners turned on the style to race four goals ahead with a scintillating second-half performance.
In his first start since early November, Gabriel Magalhaes profited from some poor goalkeeping from Emiliano Martinez to open the scoring three minutes into the second half, Premier League reports.
Martin Zubimendi then tucked home in the 52nd minute, before Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus both added sublime curling finishes.
Ollie Watkins scored a stoppage-time consolation goal for Villa, who are now six points adrift of Arsenal. Second-placed Manchester City could move back to within two points of the leaders when they visit Sunderland on New Year’s Day.
On the other hand, West Ham United ended a run of three successive losses with a pulsating 2-2 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Although Nuno Espirito Santo’s side closed the gap on 17th-placed Nottingham Forest to four points, West Ham were twice pegged back by their visitors in a dramatic game.
Jarrod Bowen slotted the home side into a 10th-minute lead, but their advantage was short-lived as Danny Welbeck sent Alphonse Areola the wrong way with a clinical penalty.
Just moments later, Welbeck chipped his second penalty of the game onto the crossbar. That miss was punished in the fourth minute of stoppage time, when Lucas Paqueta converted the match’s third spot-kick after Lewis Dunk was penalised for handball.
However, Areola’s error from a corner then gifted Brighton an equaliser as Joel Veltman pounced from close range. The 2-2 draw means the Hammers end 2025 in the relegation zone, in 18th place, while Brighton dropped to 14th after failing to win any of their December matches.
