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Late Nketiah Winner Hands Arsenal Victory in Five-goal Thriller Against Man Utd

Sport |2023-01-23T02:44:44

Arsenal retained control of the Premier League title race after Eddie Nketiah’s 90th-minute winner gave them a dramatic 3-2 victory over Manchester United in a thriller at Emirates Stadium.

Manchester City’s earlier 3- 0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers applied pressure on the Gunners but they responded with character and quality, even after going behind, to secure a five-point advantage at the top with a game in hand.

United’s man of the moment Marcus Rashford fired home a superb right-foot strike from 25 yards to give them a 17th-minute lead.

Arsenal responded fiercely and were level seven minutes later when Granit Xhaka’s cross created a heading opportunity for Nketiah, who got in ahead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka at the far post.

Bukayo Saka’s angled drive put Arsenal ahead eight minutes after the break but their advantage lasted only six minutes, with Lisandro Martinez heading his first goal for the club after keeper Aaron Ramsdale dropped a corner.

Arsenal looked the more likely winners in the closing stages, with Saka hitting the post and Nketiah denied by David de Gea’s outstanding save.

The pressure paid off in the closing moments when Nketiah – a striker who is doing an outstanding job filling in for injured Gabriel Jesus – turned in from close range to spark wild scenes of celebration at Emirates Stadium last night.

At the Etihad, Erling Haaland scored his fourth Manchester City hat-trick and took his goal tally for the season to 31 in all competitions as relegation-threated Wolves were swept aside by Pep Guardiola’s men.

By his own incredibly high standards, Haaland had been going through a barren spell.

But after ending a three-game drought against Tottenham on Thursday, the Norwegian demolished Wolves in a 12-minute spell either side of half-time.