LONDON: Arsenal lost precious ground on leaders Liverpool in the Premier League title race with a 1-1 draw at Fulham on Sunday as Bournemouth staged a 2-1 comeback win to deny Ipswich Town their first home victory.

Leicester City also came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Brighton & Hove Albion.

Raul Jimenez stunned title-chasing Arsenal when he put Fulham on the scoresheet in the 11th minute on a wet and grey afternoon. William Saliba equalised from point-blank range shortly after the interval.

Arsenal thought they had won it in the 88th minute when Bukayo Saka headed the ball in from close range, but the goal was ruled out VAR.

“We dominated most of the game … It’s frustrating not to win,” Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard told Sky Sports. “We have to focus on ourselves. We don’t care about the other teams (in the title race). It’s a very long way to go. We’ve said hundreds of times we have to keep going game by game.”

Fulham, who also thwarted the Gunners both home and away last season, have lost just one of their last seven league games to climb to 10th.

Bournemouth climbed to eighth in the table after goals from substitutes Enes Unal and Dango Ouattara propelled them to victory over Ipswich, who are four points adrift of the safety zone in 18th place.

Ipswich had the better early chances took the lead in the 21st minute when Conor Chaplin side-footed home.

Bournemouth grew into the game and finally were rewarded in Unal headed home in the 87th minute, and Ouattara grabbed the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time, breaking the hearts of home fans hoping to witness their first league win of the season at Portman Road.

“You start to think it’s not your day but luckily we took them in the end,” Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola told the BBC. “The subs gave us the end product that we were missing. We were arriving in the right places but just not finishing.”

Late goals by captain Jamie Vardy and Bobby De Cordova-Reid salvaged Leicester City’s draw with Brighton at the King Power Stadium.

Tariq Lamptey gave the visitors the lead in the 37th minute with a spectacular left-footed strike before Yankuba Minteh doubled Brighton’s advantage in the 79th.

Vardy pulled one back seven minutes later before De Cordova-Reid levelled in added time.

“How can you explain that? It’s just football sometimes,” Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler told the BBC. “No excuse. It’s our fault and we have to take responsibility.” Brighton are seventh in the table and promoted Leicester are five points above the drop zone in 16th.

FOREST BEAT UNITED

Manchester United’s weakness from set pieces was exploited again as they fell to a 3-2 defeat by Nottin­gham Forest at Old Trafford on Saturday, continuing a rocky start to the reign of new head coach Ruben Amorim.

Having conceded from two corners to Arsenal in a 2-0 defeat in midweek, United went behind from another corner within two minutes as Forest defender Nikola Milenkovic headed home before Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund levelled in the 18th minute.

United started the second half equally badly as goalkeeper Andre Onana allowed Morgan Gibbs-White’s bouncing effort to slip past him two minutes in and was then beaten by a looping Chris Wood header from a Gibbs-White cross seven minutes later.

Bruno Fernandes pulled one back with a blistering finish from just outside the box in the 61st but United could not find an equaliser. They stay 13th on 19 points, while Forest’s first win at Old Trafford in 30 years moves them up to fifth on 25.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2024