Eberechi Eze’s brilliant early strike fired Arsenal back to the top of the Premier League as they ground out a much needed 1-0 win against Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal’s bid to claim their first title since 2004 hung on Saturday’s fixture in north London following consecutive defeats to Bournemouth and rivals Manchester City.
But Eze’s ninth-minute goal allowed Mikel Arteta’s men to end City’s 72-hour stint at the league summit.
Arsenal are now three points clear of City – who saw off Southampton to secure their place in the FA Cup final – having played a game more. And the Gunners could increase their advantage to six when they face Fulham at the Emirates a week today, with Pep Guardiola’s side next in action at Everton on May 4th.
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Callum Wilson grabbed a priceless stoppage-time winner as West Ham kept their heads above the relegation zone with a 2-1 victory over Everton.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s late equaliser, which cancelled out Tomas Soucek’s header, looked to have swung the survival battle Tottenham’s way moments after they had taken the lead at Wolves.
It was a goal which briefly dropped West Ham below Spurs and back into the bottom three.
But substitute Wilson, who had scored eight goals in his previous seven appearances against Everton, struck two minutes into time added on to keep the Hammers two points above their London rivals.
It was a hammer blow for David Moyes, making his first return to the London Stadium since he left two summers ago and on his 63rd birthday.
The reunion brought up his 750th match as a Premier League boss, but their bid to qualify for Europe took a dent with a dramatic late defeat.
Joao Palhinha’s 82nd-minute tap-in earned Tottenham a first Premier League win of 2026 with a 1-0 victory at Wolves but they remain in the relegation zone.
Spurs looked set for a painful afternoon at Molineux after Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons were forced off due to injury until Roberto De Zerbi watched Palhinha slide in at the back post from a scuffed Richarlison shot to secure a first league success in 16 matches.
Alexander Isak scored as Liverpool moved closer to securing Champions League football next season but the 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace owed as much to third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.
Isak, in only his fifth game back since fracturing a fibula at Tottenham in December, has naturally taken time to rediscover his sharpness after four months out.
But his opening strike was an example of why the club spent £125 million to sign him in from Newcastle last summer, displaying the sort of instinctive finishing which the team has lacked.
However, at the other end of the scale the 29-year-old Woodman, on his full Premier League debut for the club, showed there is just as much value in free transfers with one brilliant save leading seconds later to Andy Robertson scoring Liverpool’s second.
Florian Wirtz scoring in added time, his first since January, secured a third successive league win and moved Liverpool up to fourth, eight points clear of sixth-placed Brighton.
Palace’s 71st-minute goal, controversially scored by Daniel Munoz – who lobbed the ball into an empty net with Woodman laid injured – had subdued the mood.
The other only cloud on a sunny afternoon was the sight of Mohamed Salah going off with an apparent hamstring injury.
Fulham boosted their hopes of European qualification as Ryan Sessegnon’s first-half goal earned them a 1-0 win over a lacklustre Aston Villa at Craven Cottage.
It was only a second win in six Premier League games for Marco Silva’s side, whose inconsistency may yet put a top-seven finish beyond their reach, but in glorious conditions and backed by a vociferous crowd, they showed the heights they are capable of reaching.
They struck late in the first half. Emiliano Martinez’s quick reflexes kept out Sasa Lukic’s header, but Villa were slow to clock the threat of the lurking Sessegnon who fired between the legs of Ezri Konsa on the goal line.
Villa were complicit in their own downfall, and were poor throughout. Not since their eight-game winning run ended in late December have they won back-to-back matches in the league and that sequence continued in west London, though they still have a healthy advantage in the race for a Champions League place.
