Arsenal were held to a goalless draw by a stubborn Newcastle United side, while Manchester United cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on Tuesday.
Everton lost 4-1 at home to Brighton just days after drawing with champions Manchester City, and Fulham sent Leicester to its third straight loss.
At a tense match at a packed Emirates Stadium, Mikel Arteta’s team won, but the Spaniard said his team was denied two “scandalous penalties” in front of a cheering home crowd.
Arteta was very angry that Arsenal didn’t get a penalty kick after a cross hit Jacob Murphy’s arm in the penalty area in the last few seconds of extra time.
The Gunners manager also said that Dan Burn pulled Gabriel’s shirt while they were both in the area early in the second half.
Arteta was sure that Arsenal should have been given a chance to score from the penalty spot, even though it would have been unfair to Newcastle.
“Extremely proud of my players. The way we played, dominated the game. We had so many situations. And then had two scandalous penalties,” Arteta said.
“There were two penalties. It’s very simple. I’m talking about what I’ve seen. It was two scandalous penalties.”
Of the second penalty call, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe added: “Obviously at that stage of the game you’re thinking ‘God no, the lads have given so much’ and that would have been a travesty for us.
“I didn’t think it was a penalty but you just never know.”
Arsenal is eight points ahead of Manchester City, which has a game in hand but has dropped points for only the third time this season.
Manchester United beat Bournemouth 3-0 at Old Trafford, giving them their fourth straight Premier League win and tying them with third-placed Newcastle on 35 points.
United hasn’t won a trophy since 2017, but they’ve won nine of their last ten games in all competitions as they get used to life without Cristiano Ronaldo, who was unveiled on Tuesday at his new club in Saudi Arabia, Al Nassr.
Marcus Rashford was taken off the field at Wolves on Saturday after he overslept and missed a meeting. He came off the bench to score the game-winning goal, and on Tuesday, he was one of four changes to the starting lineup, along with Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, and Donny van de Beek.
In the 23rd minute, Casemiro broke the tie for United. Adam Smith fouled Rashford on the left side, and Christian Eriksen sent in a free kick that the Brazil midfielder headed in at the near post.
Luke Shaw, an England defender, started and finished the move that led to United’s second goal early in the second half, and Rashford added a final touch just before the game ended.
“I’m happy with the result,” said manager Erik ten Hag, who is in his first season at the club. “Today it was not our best game. We have to be honest, we didn’t play that smart as a team.
“We made great goals, but at times we were quite lucky, and some great saves from David (de Gea). We could have been smarter as a team.”
Alexis Mac Allister, who won the World Cup with Brighton, was put on the bench for their game against Everton at Goodison Park just over 24 hours after he got back from Argentina. He came on in the second half.
In the 14th minute, Kaoru Mitoma gave the visitors the lead, but things quickly went wrong for Frank Lampard’s team at the start of the second half.
Before the hour mark, goals from 18-year-old Evan Ferguson, Solly March, and Pascal Gross gave Brighton a 4-0 lead.
Everton fans started to leave, and someone threw a flare onto the field as people chanted “sack the board.”
Demarai Gray scored a late penalty to make up for the loss, but Everton is now just one point above the relegation zone after the humiliating loss.
Aleksandar Mitrovic, a Serbian forward, scored the game’s only goal. Fulham beat Leicester 1-0 at the King Power Stadium to move up to seventh in the table, tied with Liverpool in points.
Photo by EPA/Neil Hall
