Man City ramp up pressure on Arsenal in day of chaos

Football writer Dan Edwards looks at the main talking points from Saturday’s Premier League action after big results at both ends of the table.

No Erling Haaland, no problem? Not quite – but with Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki, Manchester City have shown they have multiple avenues of attack in their quest to beat Arsenal to the top of the Premier League.

The news that Haaland would not be involved due to injury would have provided a boost to Leeds United supporters – and Arsenal fans too.

For City, it meant a slight adjustment. Semenyo was pushed from his hybrid forward midfield role into the front two with Omar Marmoush, with Cherki introduced in midfield.

Leeds had City on the ropes for the first 30 minutes of this match and had the first eight shots while City’s first came in the 40th minute, their longest wait this season.

It was only when Gianluigi Donnarumma stopped Brenden Aaronson on the counter in the 39th minute that City finally woke up.

The visitors eventually got the better of the game, and after Nico O’Reilly twice went close, Semenyo put them in front, completing a flowing move involving Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri on the left.

City have often struggled in the second half this season, but Saturday was the opposite, and it was Cherki who was at the heart of it. Named Player of the Match, he had 103 touches, just behind Rodri’s 138.

“Cherki, for me, had his best game,” said his coach Pep Guardiola. “Solid and aggressive with the ball.”

His side have now won four in a row in the Premier League to move within two points of leaders Arsenal before the Gunners host Chelsea on Sunday. Asked if his side could continue, Guardiola replied: “One game at a time. Recovery, there are a lot of games, people are tired. Every game is really, really difficult. Yesterday Wolves won (against Aston Villa). The Premier League is better than ever.”

The three matches at 15:00 GMT produced chaos and plenty of goals. The total of 19 represents the most goals ever scored in three simultaneous Premier League matches, with each competition full of drama.

Football can be a cruel game, but Burnley have shown they won’t go down without a fight.

They scored in the third minute of added time to earn a point against Chelsea last week through Zian Flemming, and in the previous match they overturned a two-goal deficit to beat Crystal Palace.

It looked like they might pull off another comeback against Brentford when, after trailing by three goals after 34 minutes, they were miraculously level in the 60th minute.

Flemming was almost the hero again when his 78th-minute goal to give the Clarets the lead was ruled out for a narrow offside. Instead, Mikkel Damsgaard scored a goal in stoppage time to restore Brentford’s lead. Burnley scored again, but Ashley Barnes’ equalizer in the eighth minute of stoppage time was again ruled out, this time for handball.

Liverpool became only the second team in Premier League history to score three first-half goals from corners, en route to a sixth victory in seven games in all competitions.

Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister all scored before the break against West Ham United, matching Manchester United’s trio of first-half corner goals against Leicester City in September 2016.

Van Dijk’s goal was his 28th in the Premier League. Excluding penalties, only John Terry, with 41, has scored more in the competition among centre-backs.

“It’s difficult to explain the game,” West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo said after watching his West Ham side create numerous chances and outscore their opponents by 1.84 to 1.75 expected goals (xG) in this match.

Everton manager David Moyes had said the club were not ready to give up on their European ambitions, and they showed that with a declared victory at Newcastle United.

The key to victory was their “bounce back ability”: twice they lost the lead and twice they responded instantly.

It took Beto 105 seconds to cancel out Jacob Ramsey’s first-half equalizer for Newcastle, and just 74 seconds for his replacement, Thierno Barry, to do the same for Jacob Murphy’s second-half equalizer.

Newcastle came close to equalizing for a third time in the fourth minute of added time when Sandro Tonali was sensationally denied by Jordan Pickford, a save which stunned teammate Jarrad Branthwaite. “I think it’s the best save I’ve ever seen,” he said after the match. “I don’t know how he did it.”

Watch: Pickford’s incredible save

With the Premier League on course for a fifth-place finish in the UEFA Champions League, a league-high 12th draw of the season was a missed opportunity for AFC Bournemouth.

A win against Sunderland would have moved them ahead of Brentford into seventh place, but after substitute Evanilson canceled out an early Eliezer Mayenda goal for the visitors, Andoni Iraola’s side failed to find a winner.

The Cherries are unbeaten in eight Premier League matches, with only Man Utd currently on a longer run.

Sunderland fans who had undertaken their longest journey of the season, a 684-mile round trip, departing the night before, not only had a point to take home but also the welcome sight of Granit Xhaka back on the pitch for their heroes.