Football: Manchester City and Arsenal beaten, Liverpool new leader

Manchester City suffered their first defeat in almost a year in the English championship on Saturday at Bournemouth (2-1), leaving first place to Liverpool, stunning against Brighton (2-1). Behind, Arsenal find themselves left behind after falling to Fabian Schär’s Newcastle (1-0).

After ten days, Liverpool are in the lead with 25 points, ahead of Manchester City (2nd, 23 points), the four-time reigning English champion. The podium is completed by the surprise Nottingham Forest (3rd, 19 points), winner of West Ham 3-0 on Saturday. Arsenal (18 points) are in 4th place and can slip further in the standings depending on the results of Aston Villa (5th, 18 points) and Chelsea (6th, 17 points) on Sunday.

In the meantime, Bournemouth created a surprise against Manuel Akanji’s Manchester City, leader before the 10th day and beaten for the first time since December 2023 in the championship. Aston Villa were the last team to knock off Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens in the Premier League. The Mancuniens were undefeated for 32 matches in the league before giving in to Antoine Semenyo (9th, 1-0) and Evanilson (64th, 2-0). Defender Josko Gvardiol (83rd, 2-1) reduced the gap, in vain.

Liverpool, for their part, was surprised by a goal from Ferdi Kadioglu (14th, 0-1) but turned the match around in the space of three minutes by Cody Gakpo (69th, 1-1) and Mohamed Salah ( 72nd, 2-1).

Earlier, Arsenal suffered a second defeat in three Premier League matches, at Newcastle (1-0). A bad series which reduces the title chances of the Gunners, vice-champions of England the last two seasons. Newcastle, however, remained on five outings without a win in the Premier League (two draws and three defeats), their worst series in more than two years.

The Magpies, with Fabian Schär throughout the entire match, scored quickly on a perfect cross from Anthony Gordon headed by Alexander Isak between the two central defenders Gabriel and William Saliba (12th, 1-0). This is the tenth goal conceded in the last six Premier League matches by Arsenal, whose defense is no longer as sovereign as last season.

The Gunners, still without their usual captain Martin Odegaard, had possession of the ball for the majority of the match, without however being dangerous. They only had one of their attempts on target. On a cross from Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice was very close to saving a point in added time but his header went wide of the cage defended by Nick Pope (90th + 3).

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