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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger
Reuters: Arsene Wenger endured a bitter-sweet 67th birthday on Saturday as his Arsenal side went to the top of the Premier League but missed a golden opportunity by only eking out a goalless draw with struggling Middlesbrough at the Emirates Stadium.
Liverpool were later just 10 minutes away from overhauling Arsenal but a late goal from West Bromwich Albion at Anfield meant that a 2-1 victory for Juergen Klopp’s men still could not stop the Londoners remaining at the summit on goal difference.
Earlier, Tottenham Hotspur spurned the chance to have their own short spell at the top as they were held 0-0 by Bournemouth in the day’s early match while maintaining the season’s only unbeaten Premier League record at Dean Court.
With life increasingly congested in the fight for the title, Liverpool were left the most satisfied as their win puts them on 20 points alongside Arsenal, who have a superior goal difference of one.
Manchester City, who started Saturday as leaders on 19 points, could return to the top on Sunday when they host Southampton. Spurs, in fourth place, also have 19 with just a point separating the top quartet.
Arsenal, the league’s form side after a six-match winning run, dominated possession against Boro, who are just above the relegation zone in 17th, yet could easily have lost to the side struggling just above the relegation zone.
“They had chances but our goalkeeper saved us today. Petr Cech had a good performance in decisive phases,” Wenger conceded.
As for not landing the gift he had hoped for, he smiled in a BBC interview: “At least you can have a drink on your birthday. When you win you deserve it. When you don’t, you need it!”
Spurs found it “tough” in a frantic game at buoyant Bournemouth, according to their manager Mauricio Pochettino, who reckoned this was exactly the kind of game they would have to win if they were to be real title contenders.
As the battle to succeed Leicester City boiled up, the champions themselves finally found some decent domestic form with manager Claudio Ranieri describing their 3-1 win over Crystal Palace as their best performance of the season.
Ahmed Musa, Leicester’s 16 million-pound ($19.6 million)summer signing, scored his first goal for the club and Shinji Okazaki and Christian Fuchs struck after the break to stretch the Foxes’ unbeaten home run to 20 games.
Everton’s push towards the top of the table, though, was halted rudely at Turf Moor where a 90th-minute winner from Scott Arfield gave Burnley a 2-1 win in a game the Toffees’ boss Ronald Koeman was convinced they should have won.
He was not the only manager bemoaning his luck with Sunderland’s under-pressure David Moyes adamant that his side had lost to a late, late offside goal in a 1-0 defeat at West Ham United.
Sunderland are three points adrift of Swansea City, who created the best chances but ended up drawing 0-0 with Watford in manager Bob Bradley’s first game in charge at the Liberty Stadium.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp celebrates after the game with Georginio Wijnaldum as Roberto Firmino celebrates with Adam Lallana - Action Images via Reuters
Reuters: A fluent Liverpool moved second in the Premier League with a 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion at Anfield on Saturday but will rue missing the prize of top spot a larger margin of victory would have secured.
Victory by at least two goals would have put Juergen Klopp’s side ahead of Arsenal and when Sadio Mane and Philippe Coutinho scored in the first half it looked good for the rampant Reds.
Mane volleyed in Roberto Firmino’s perfectly flighted pass after 20 minutes and with Liverpool attacking in waves Coutinho then showed great footwork to collect Mane’s pass and shoot past Ben Foster in the 35th minute.
Foster made superb saves from Dejan Lovren’s header and another Firmino effort to keep West Brom in touch and the visitors gained an unlikely lifeline in the 81st minute when Gareth McAuley volleyed home from close range.
Liverpool have 20 points from nine matches but Arsenal, who drew 0-0 at home to Middlesbrough, have a marginally better goal difference. Manchester City (19) can return to the top if they beat Southampton on Sunday.
“I am happy with the performance of my team. It is difficult against West Brom, so many balls in the air and they are so dangerous from set pieces,” Klopp, who took charge of his first Liverpool game just over a year ago, said.
“It would have been a joke if we had drawn today, it was unbelievable how we played. It was a good performance against a team like this. They were here to get something, but we never let them back into the game. “We wasted a little bit of energy in the second half. We had to finish the game much earlier.”
Sunderland’s Jack Rodwell looks dejected after the Premier League match against West Ham United in London Stadium - Action Images via Reuters
Reuters: Sunderland became the first top-flight club in more than 100 years to fail to register a win in any of their first nine league games in two successive seasons when they suffered a 1-0 defeat by West Ham United on Saturday.
Winston Reid’s goal deep into stoppage time was the latest blow for Davis Moyes’s side who have managed just two draws from their opening nine matches. Bury, in 1906, were the last club to suffer two such dreadful starts to a top-flight season. Sunderland can take heart in the fact that Bury escaped relegation, but so far there is precious little evidence to suggest they can pull off the sort of recovery they managed last season when Sam Allardyce was installed as manager in January.
Defeat was cruel on Sunderland at the London Stadium, according to Moyes who is coming under increasing pressure.
“It was a very harsh way to lose a game,” Moyes, whose side face leaders Arsenal next week, told the club’s website.
“I was pleased with a lot of what the players did today. It was always going to be a tough game.
“I thought we competed and did quite well. We are disappointed, the players worked so hard and we’ve dropped a point in the end.”
