LONDON: Arsenal opened up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League tha­nks to a 1-0 win at Leicester City on Saturday as Leeds United beat Southampton 1-0 to give new boss Javi Gracia a winning start.

The Gunners snapped a four-game winless streak with two late goals at Aston Villa last week to take back control of the title race after briefly being usurped at the top of the table by Manc­hester City.

Mikel Arteta’s men needed no such drama at the King Power and should have run out far more convincing winners.

Oleksandr Zinchenko was handed the captain’s armband by Arteta as a show of support for Ukraine to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the defender’s homeland.

Eddie Nketiah was dropped in Arteta’s other big call, but the Spaniard’s decision to start both Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard paid dividends.

Trossard had a brilliant first half strike into the top corner controversially ruled out by a VAR review for a foul be Ben White on Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward.

But Martinelli was not to be denied one minute into the second period when he coolly slotted home from Trossard’s pass.

Bukayo Saka had a second goal ruled out for offside as Arsenal failed to turn their domination into a more convincing scoreline.

However, they did enough to pile the pressure on second-placed City ahead of their trip to Bournemouth later on Saturday.

Leeds had not won a league game since before the World Cup break, a run which saw Jesse Marsch sacked.

But they snapped that streak in a clash between the bottom two before kick-off at Elland Road.

Junior Firpo scored the only goal 13 minutes from time to lift Leeds out of the relegation zone.

West Ham United were the other big winners of the day in the battle to beat the drop as four goals in the final 20 minutes potentially saved David Moyes’ job in a 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest.

According to reports this week, the former Manchester United manager faced the sack if the Hammers lost.

Two goals in three minutes from Danny Ings transformed the mood around the London Stadium before Declan Rice and Michail Antonio sealed West Ham’s second league win since October.

Everton slipped back into the bottom three after losing 2-0 at home to Aston Villa.

Ollie Watkins’ penalty and Emi Buendia’s strike condemned Sean Dyche to a first home defeat since taking charge of the Toffees.

On Friday, substitute Man­or Solomon’s stunning second-half strike earned Fulham a 1-1 draw at home to Wolve­rhampton Wanderers in a tight affair at Craven Cottage.

Wolves, who are edging away from the relegation zone, were much the better side in the first half and deservedly went in front after 23 minutes through Pablo Sarabia’s fine finish, the Spain international’s first goal in English football since his January move from Paris St Germain.

Sixth-placed Fulham rarely threatened without injured top-scorer Aleks­andar Mitrovic but Solomon stepped up with a superb leveller in the 64th minute, curling the ball into the net from distance and scoring for the third successive league match to stretch Fulham’s unbeaten run in the league to four matches.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2023