Arsenal's Nicolas Pepe celebrating his goal against Leicester City. (Twitter/PL) Arsenal revived their hopes of playing in European competition next season after goals from David Luiz, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe helped them to a 3-1 win at Leicester City in an entertaining Premier League clash on Sunday.
The result lifted Arsenal two places up to ninth on 37 points from 26 games while Leicester stayed third on 49 points after suffering a second setback in three days following their Europa League elimination.
No Arsenal player has provided more Premier League assists so far this season than Willian (4). 🎯 pic.twitter.com/9Nd1kJlQCY
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) February 28, 2021
Leicester, who exited Europe’s second-tier competition with a 2-0 home defeat by Slavia Prague on Thursday, took a sixth-minute lead against Arsenal as Youri Tielemans cut inside the area from the right flank and fired a low shot into the far corner.
The Gunners equalised in the 39th when Luiz headed a Willian cross into the bottom right corner and Lacazette turned the tide in first-half stoppage time as he drilled in a penalty after a VAR check showed Wilfred Ndidi had handled the ball in the area.
Poor defending cost Leicester again in the 52nd minute as they allowed the visitors to break through the middle before Willian slipped the ball to Pepe and the Ivorian forward tucked it into an empty net from two metres.
Arsenal held on comfortably in the closing stages and missed chances to win by a bigger margin as Kieran Tierney volleyed just wide from 20 metres and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came close with a fizzing low shot.
Bale scores 2 as Tottenham routs Burnley
Gareth Bale scored twice to lift Tottenham to a 4-0 rout of Burnley on Sunday in a morale-boosting victory for a Tottenham team which had lost five of its previous six Premier League games.
Bale gave Tottenham the lead after just 68 seconds, knocking in a cross from Son Heung-min after defender James Tarkowski missed a chance to intercept.
Bale played in Harry Kane to make it 2-0 in the 15th minute and Tottenham was cruising when Lucas Moura added a third goal off Sergio Reguilon’s cross.
Bale scored his second in the 55th when Son spotted the Welsh forward had been left completely alone by the Burnley defense on the right flank. Bale took one touch to control the ball and another to curl it with his left foot past goalkeeper Nick Pope.
It was the sort of performance Tottenham fans had hoped for when Bale was signed back from Madrid on a season-long loan in September.
Instead, they had to watch as Bale was hampered by injuries and Jose Mourinho’s decision to play Bale mostly in the cup competitions and Europa League, with Sunday marking only the third time he had started in the Premier League this season.
The last time Bale scored twice in a game was for Madrid against Villarreal in 2019. He hasn’t scored for the Spanish club since.
After Bale was substituted in the 70th, Pope stopped Tottenham from scoring a fifth, scooping one powerful shot from Kane over the bar and palming another from Son around the post. Kane missed from close range in stoppage time.
Tottenham moved above Aston Villa to eighth with the win, the team’s biggest margin of victory in the Premier League since beating Manchester United 6-1 in October. Burnley is 15th, five points above the relegation zone, and with one win from its last eight league and cup games.
Dominant Fulham frustrated in goalless draw at Palace
Fulham lacked cutting edge in front of goal in their 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace on Sunday and settled for a point at Selhurst Park in their quest to climb out of the Premier League’s relegation zone.
The result meant that Scott Parker’s 18th-placed side are unbeaten in five league matches and have 23 points from 26 games to sit three points behind Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion, but they were left to rue their missed opportunities.