LONDON: Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge suffered another blow in a 2-1 defeat at Fulham on Sunday, as Tottenham Hotspur beat Bournemouth 3-1 to close in on their north London rivals.

The Gunners’ high hopes of a first league title in 20 years have been rocked by two damaging defeats in four days.

Mikel Arteta was looking for a response after losing 2-0 at home to West Ham United on Thursday and the visitors started brightly at Craven Cottage.

Bukayo Saka pounced to tap home his first goal in six games after Bernd Leno parried Gabriel Martinelli’s initial effort.

But Arsenal failed to build on their early advantage and Fulham hit back to snap a three-game losing run in the Premier League without even scoring a goal.

Raul Jimenez was badly missed during his three-game ban for a red card at Newcastle United and the Mexican kickstarted the Fulham fightback with his fourth goal in as many games.

Former Arsenal winger Willian sent Tom Cairney free down the left and his dangerous low cross was swept home by Jimenez at the back post.

Martinelli was inches away from restoring Arsenal’s lead before the break.

But it was Fulham who were the better side in the second half and they got their reward just before the hour mark.

Arsenal failed to clear a corner and the ball broke kindly for Bobby De Cordova-Reid to smash home from close range.

Only a fine save from David Raya to deny Cairney and the crossbar from Andreas Pereira’s free-kick prevented Arsenal from suffering further punishment in the pouring rain in west London.

But enough damage may have been done to their title aspirations over the past week.

Arsenal remain in fourth, two points behind leaders Liverpool and level on 40 points with Manchester City, but having played a game more than both their title rivals.

Arteta’s men could even be outside the top four by the time they are next in league action in three weeks’ time as Tottenham closed to within a point of the Champions League places.

Ange Postecoglou’s men shrugged off a mounting injury crisis to inflict Bournemouth’s first defeat in eight games.

Pape Sarr’s precise finish into the bottom corner opened the scoring after just nine minutes.

But the Senegalese midfielder left the field in tears midway through the first half with an injury that puts his participation in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations in doubt.

Bournemouth will feel they should have been level before the break as the in-form Dominic Solanke hit the bar amid a flurry of chances.

Instead, the visitors were picked off in the second half.

Son Heung-min is also set to depart for a few weeks to lead South Korea at the Asia Cup.

The Spurs captain signed off in style with a thumping finish from a narrow angle before Richarlison made it 3-0.

Alex Scott pulled a goal back six minutes from time, but it was too little, too late for the Cherries, who remain in 12th.

In Saturday’s late match, Manchester United suffered a 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest as the home side piled more misery on their beleaguered visitors with goals from Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White securing the points at a rocking City Ground.

Erik ten Hag’s United are struggling in seventh place on 31 points from 20 games after their 14th defeat this term in all competitions. The last time they had more losses in a season by the turn of the year was way back in 1930-31.

“The result is clear. It’s disappointing,” Ten Hag told the BBC. “The loss was unnecessary. We lost it in the first half. We weren’t energised enough or invested enough.

“In the second we were better. We know these results are below our standards.”

It was Forest’s first league win over United since 1994, and first at home in the Premier League era, to delight their newly appointed manager Nuno Espirito Santo.

Published in Dawn, january 1st, 2024