Arsenal FIGHTBACK to beat West Ham and extend lead to 7 points after Premier League resumes after FIFA World Cup 2022

Arsenal showed how to fight back on Boxing Day, traditionally a busy time in English football, by beating West Ham 3-1 to stretch its lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points. Newcastle moved second with a 3-0 win at Leicester on Monday, pushing defending champion Manchester City down to third.

Said Benrahma’s 27th-minute penalty kick gave David Moyes’ West Ham a 1-0 lead at halftime after the Gunners had a spot kick disallowed by VAR on the stroke of the interval. But Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta saw his team move up through the gears after the break with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli scoring with fine finishes at the start of the second period.

A big win in our final home game of 2022 _ pic.twitter.com/ctExgS7EOp — Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 26, 2022

Eddie Nketiah sealed the victory in front of former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger by finishing off a slick move to fill the void of the injured Gabriel Jesus and earn Arsenal a 10th straight home win in the Premier League. Chris Wood’s penalty and a sublime strike by Miguel Almiron put Newcastle 2-0 up against Leicester after only seven minutes, with Joelinton adding a third just after the half-hour mark for the Magpies’ sixth straight league win.

Man City, which visits Leeds on Wednesday (January 28), trails Newcastle by one point but has played two fewer games. The seven games Monday were the first in the Premier League in more than a month because of the long break for the World Cup in Qatar.

Harry Kane scores against Brentford

Harry Kane, who returned to the Premier League after missing a penalty in England’s World Cup quarterfinal loss to France two weeks ago, scored a goal to help fourth-place Tottenham come back from a two-goal deficit in a 2-2 draw with Brentford.

Kane shrugged off chants of “You let your country down” from a section of the Brentford fans. He headed in a cross from Clement Lenglet in the 65th. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg equalized six minutes later for Tottenham. Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney scored for Brentford.

Liverpool wins again

Liverpool beat Aston Villa 3-1 for their third straight league win and stayed sixth, a point behind Manchester United. Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk struck in the first half at Villa Park before Stefan Bajcetic scored near the end of the second. Liverpool’s third straight victory moved the club five points adrift of the Champions League spots.

“We have to be the pain in the backside for everyone," Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said. “We are not in the best position, there is distance between us and other teams, we know that. The first two or three are maybe too far away. If they win all their games we have no chance.”

In other games, Wolverhampton manager Julen Lopetegui marked his Premier League debut with a dramatic stoppage-time 2-1 win at Everton. The defeat ramped up the pressure on Everton coach Frank Lampard. Substitute Rayan Ait-Nouri scored on the counterattack in the fifth minute of added time. Wolves moved off the bottom of the table and within a point of 17th-place Everton.

Brighton beat struggling Southampton 3-1 at St. Mary’s and trails Liverpool by one point. Southampton lost their fourth straight league game and dropped to last place. Fulham won a Premier League derby in the capital for only the second time in 29 attempts with a 3-0 victory at nine-man Crystal Palace. Bobby Decordova-Reid, Tim Ream and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored for the visitors while Tyrick Mitchell and James Tomkins were sent off for the hosts.

Fulham manager Marco Silva dedicated the win to George Cohen, the club’s 1966 World Cup-winning England right back who died on Friday.

(with PTI inputs)