🦁 Arsenal thump Newcastle; City beat Bournemouth; Man Utd lose; Villa win | OneFootball

Ahead of Sunday’s EFL Cup final, there were six Premier League fixtures to enjoy on Saturday.

Here is what went down around the grounds.

Arsenal cruise past Newcastle

Scorers: Botman (OG) 18′, Havertz 24′, Saka 65′, Kiwior 69′ ; Willock 85

Arsenal thumped Newcastle United at home to move back to within one point of second place Manchester City

It was a rough and tumble affair from the very start, a tempo driven home by an early yellow-card for Martin Ødegaard for a rash challenge.

The deadlock was broken before the 20 minute mark when Gabriel’s header went narrowly over the line from a corner after ricocheting in off of a defender, despite some heroic goalkeeping from Loris Karius.

The Gunners ripped through their visitors only a few minutes later, capping the move off with a Kai Havertz strike from close-range to double the lead.

Newcastle grew into the game after the restart, but did little to threaten the Arsenal rearguard.

Any momentum shift was short lived as Arsenal ripped through their visitors one more time past the hour mark, seeing Bukayo Saka fire home and keep up his stupendous scoring streak.

The hosts found their fourth just a few minutes later when Jakub Kiwior headed home from a Declan Rice corner.

The Magpies found a consolation goal through former Arsenal man Joe Willock, seeing the visitors score their first goal at the Emirates in more than a decade.

Man City hang on to beat Bournemouth

Scorers: Foden 24′

A lone Phil Foden goal was all Manchester City needed to win on the south coast and move to within one point of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

As expected, City dominated the ball in the early going. Bournemouth remained a threat on the counterattack however, on the rare occasions they could win the ball back.

The first big chance fell to Erling Haaland, who after being played in behind by Phil Foden somehow fluffed his lines with only the keeper to beat.

It didn’t take the champions long to redeem their error, as Phil Foden snatched the lead for the visitors after tapping in a saved Haaland effort from point-blank range.

It was much of the same after the halftime restart, with City controlling possession and probing the Cherries’ defence.

Bournemouth grew into the game as the clock ticked towards an hour, but the hosts could only fashion a few half-chances in front of Ederson’s goal.

A superb cross fell to Enes Ünal as the game headed into stoppage-time, but the Turkish striker sent his header narrowly wide to keep City ahead.

Man Utd stunned at home by late winner

Scorers: Maguire 89′; Bassey 65′, Iwobi 90+7′

Fulham’s Alex Iwobi scored a 97th minute winner at Old Trafford to defeat Manchester United, who looked to have rescued a point just moments earlier.

After a dominant Fulham start, both sides traded close calls with the woodwork as Diogo Dalot first clipped the post from range for the hosts before Rodrigo Muniz spun Victor Lindelöf before crashing his attempt against the upright.

With United struggling, they deservedly fell behind 20 minutes into the second half as Calvin Bassey scored his first Premier League goal following some confusion in the penalty area, allowing the defender to react fastest to finish emphatically into the roof of the net.

But just when one centre-back looked to have won it, another intervened for United in the final minute of normal time as Maguire turned home after Bernd Leno parried into his path to equalise.

However, there was to be one last twist in the tale as Fulham caught United out with a deadly late counter-attack and ended their five-game winning streak as Adama Traoré fed Iwobi who calmly cut inside and found the near post for victory.

The costly defeat sees United lose considerable ground in the top four race, sitting eight points off Aston Villa, while the Cottagers remain 12th.

Villa back on song at home

Scorers: Watkins 4′, Luiz 29′, 40′, Bailey 60′; Niakhaté 45+5′, Gibbs-White 47′

Aston Villa returned to winning ways at home after a three-game losing streak as they staved off a Nottingham Forest fightback to win 4-2.

It took Villa just four minutes to make the breakthrough when Ollie Watkins, tapping into an empty net from three yards out after fantastic work by Leon Bailey down the right and the 211 seconds it took to score it made for his side’s fastest goal of the campaign.

Desperate to put their recent poor home form behind them, Unai Emery’s men added a second by again exposing Forest down the right, resulting in Douglas Luiz making it 2-0 to end a fine team move.

Five minutes before half-time, the Brazilian made it three to take his tally for the campaign into double figures when all competitions are accounted for before Moussa Niakhaté pulled one back deep into first half stoppage-time by chesting home from close range.

Two minutes after the restart, the visitors reduced the deficit to just one and send an anxious shiver around the ground when Morgan Gibbs-White ghosted in to beat Emi Martínez, although Villa did come close to offering an instant response through Youri Tielemans, whose effort hit the post.

However, on the hour mark Villa finally alleviated the tension once more through the outstanding Bailey, who tapped home after a Watkins shot was saved.

Dunk denies Everton in injury-time

Scorers: Dunk 90+5′; Branthwaite 73′

Lewis Dunk commemorated a landmark afternoon by denying Everton a crucial three points with a 95th minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw on the south coast.

After a goal-less and incident free first 45 minutes, the away side came within inches of a second half opener, only for Tariq Lamptey to deny Abdoulaye Doucouré with an outstanding goal-line clearance.

Buoyed by that close call, the Toffees struck for what looked to be the winner in the closing stages when Jarrad Branthwaite popped up with a striker’s finish, brilliantly finding the far corner with a shot across goal.

A Billy Gilmour red card following a foul on Amadou Onana looked to have compounded the Seagulls’ misery, only for Dunk to salvage a point on his 400th appearance for the club by heading in from a cross and sees Everton sit just one point above the drop zone.

Glasner era starts in style

Scorers: Richards 68′, Ayew 72′, Mateta (PEN) 79′

Three goals in just 11 second half minutes got Oliver Glasner off to the perfect Palace start with a 3-0 win over 10-man Burnley.

Burnley’s task was made much more difficult with a first half red card as Josh Brownhill pulled Jefferson Lerma down to deny a clear goalscoring opportunity following a slack James Trafford pass.

From the resulting free-kick, Odsonne Édouard clipped the top of the Clarets crossbar.

It took a frustrated Palace until the final 20 minutes to finally make their man advantage count when Chris Richards headed in at the back post and following that, the floodgates opened.

A second swiftly followed when Jordan Ayew slid home to make it 2-0 before Jean-Philippe Mateta added a third from the penalty spot after Matheus França was brought down inside the area.

Palace move eight points clear of the drop zone with the win, while Vincent Kompany’s men are now 10 from safety.

Sunday’s fixture