LONDON: Arsenal blew a two-goal lead for the second game in a row as Bukayo Saka’s penalty miss proved crucial in the Premier League leaders’ damaging 2-2 draw against West Ham United on Sunday.

Mikel Arteta’s side struck twice in the first 10 minutes at the London Stadium thanks to goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard.

But just seven days after squandering a 2-0 advantage in their 2-2 draw at Liverpool, the Gunners again cracked under the pressure of the title race.

Said Benrahma’s penalty reduced the deficit for West Ham before the interval and after Saka fired his spot-kick wide early in the second half, Jarrod Bowen volleyed in an equaliser for the struggling hosts.

It was a hammer blow for Arsenal, who sit four points clear of second-placed Manchester City but have ceded the title race momentum to Pep Guardiola’s team.

City, who have won their last 10 matches in all competitions, have a game in hand on Arsenal.While City are battle-tested in handling the tension of the title race, Arsenal’s young squad look to be suffering an ill-timed attack of nerves.

It could have been so different for Arsenal after they needed just seven minutes to take the lead as Odegaard’s deft pass found Ben White, who delivered a low cross that Jesus slotted home at the far post.

Jesus’s fourth goal in his last three games was followed by the Gunners’ second three minutes later as they ruthlessly punished West Ham’s woeful marking.

Gabriel Martinelli’s pin-point cross found Odegaard in acres of space and the midfielder blasted a volley past Lukasz Fabianski from an acute angle six yards out.

The turning point came in the 33rd minute when Arsenal, looking a little over-confident after such a swaggering start, needlessly conceded a penalty.

Thomas Partey surrendered possession to Declan Rice and when the West Ham midfielder picked out Lucas Paqueta’s run, Gabriel Magalhaes’ mistimed sliding tackle was correctly ruled a penalty despite Arsenal appeals for handball.

Benrahma sent Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way from the spot.Saka should have eased Arsenal’s mounting anxiety when Michail Antonio conceded a 50th minute penalty with an outstretched arm that blocked Martinelli’s flick.

But instead Saka spiked the tension level even higher with a woeful spot-kick that completely missed the target, a costly blunder that recalled the England forward’s Euro 2020 final penalty shoot-out failure against Italy.

Saka held his head in his hands and with Arsenal clearly rattled, David Moyes’ side snatched an equaliser in the 54th minute.

Thilo Kehrer guided the ball into the Arsenal area and Bowen was just onside as his volley ricocheted off the turf and skidded past Ramsdale’s despairing dive.

Antonio nearly won it for West Ham in the closing stages, rising to head Benrahma’s cross against the bar.

HAALAND CONTINUES TO SET RECORDS IN WIN OVER LEICESTER

In Saturday’s late game, Erling Haaland continued his jaw-dropping assault on the Premier League as he netted a first-half brace to equal Mohamed Salah’s single-season goal-scoring record in City’s 3-1 victory over beleaguered Leicester City.

Haaland increased his haul to 32 goals to tie Salah’s mark for a 38-game season — and the 22-year-old Norwegian scoring machine has eight games still to play.

Only four days earlier, Haaland had become the first player in English football to score a record 45 goals in a season in all competitions during City’s 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

On Saturday, that record tally increased to 47 goals.

John Stones put City ahead in the in the fifth minute. With the ball flying around the box like pinball, Stones got his left foot on it to beat keeper Daniel Iversen.

Haaland made it 2-0 with a penalty in the 12th minute, awarded due to Wilfred Ndidi’s handball. He calmly slotted it into the bottom right corner.

He scored his second in the 25th minute after Kevin De Bruyne steamrolled past Ndidi to feed Haaland, who finished with a chip past Daniel Iversen.

Trailing 3-0, former City man Kelechi Iheanacho pulled one back for Leicester in the 75th minute on otherwise nightmare afternoon for their interim manager Dean Smith, whose team are 19th with 25 points from 31 games in their battle to avoid relegation. They are two points adrift of the safety zone.

Leicester had a couple more late scoring chances. City keeper Ederson stopped James Maddison’s point-blank shot after a one-on-one. Iheanacho’s long shot in injury time clanged off the post.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2023