LONDON: Arsenal’s faint Premier League title hopes were effectively extinguished as a late equaliser from Yoane Wissa earned Brentford a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday while Kevin De Bruyne inspired a Manchester City fightback from two goals down to beat Crystal Palace 5-2.

As City moved back into the top four with, Nottingham Forest failed to consolidate third place after a 1-0 home defeat by Everton.

Aston Villa beat relegated Southampton 3-0 away, while Brighton & Hove Albion were held 2-2 at home by Leicester City, who are on the verge of relegation.

The results leave Forest in third on 57 points, two points clear of City and a further point ahead of Villa in fifth. Sixth-placed Chelsea, who have 53, host Ipswich Town on Sunday.

Arsenal suffered a minor first-half come down from their exhilarating 3-0 Champions League quarter-final first leg victory over visiting Real Madrid in midweek, with the hosts struggling to beak down a well-organised Brentford side.

Thomas Partey put Arsenal in front just after the hour mark following great work from Declan Rice, the two-goal hero against Madrid, but Wissa levelled with a hooked 74th-minute finish.

Second-placed Arsenal never really looked like finding a late winner, leaving leaders Liverpool, who host lowly West Ham United on Sunday, 10 points clear with a game in hand, while Brentford climbed to 11th in the standings.

City were 2-0 down inside 21 minute when Eberechi Eze grabbed the opener after Palace carved open the home side’s defence before Chris Richards scored from a set-piece.

But De Bruyne halved the deficit with a free kick before his cushioned header found its way to Omar Marmoush, who blasted the ball into the net after Ilkay Gundogan missed.

City dominated the second half and De Bruyne assisted Mateo Kovacic for the third goal 80 seconds after the restart.

Goalkeeper Ederson then claimed his fourth assist of the season when he set James McAtee on his way with a long ball while Nico O’Reilly completed the rout.

“I want to go away with a Champions League [spot] for this team because they deserve it,” said Belgian De Bruyne, who is leaving the club at the end of the season. “We’ve been in the Champions League for the nine, ten years that I’ve been here so I hope we can do that for the team next year.”

FOREST STUNNED BY EVERTON

Forest struggled to get going against Everton, who stunned the fans at The City Ground when Abdoulaye Doucoure scored the only goal in added time.

Forest had a corner which was cleared and as Everton ran up the other end, Dwight McNeil found Doucoure who netted to give the visitors their first win in seven games.

“I think we can’t have it better than that, when you play a football game, to score a last-minute goal. It was a terrific moment for the team,” Doucoure said.

Villa’s Champions League run this season may have just days left in it as they trail Paris St Germain 3-1 after the first leg of their quarter-final in the French capital.

Unai Emery’s men are making a charge to get back into the competition next season after maintaining their winning Premier League run with a 3-0 victory at already-relegated Southampton despite Marco Asensio having two penalties saved by Aaron Ramsdale.

Ollie Watkins was again left on the bench by Emery but made a stunning impact with a volley over Ramsdale from Youri Tielemans’ dinked pass 17 minutes from time.

Donyell Malen then sealed the points with his third goal in as many league games.

Asensio’s second spot-kick was saved in stoppage time, but John McGinn pounced on the rebound.

Leicester scored their first league goals since January to snap a nine-game losing run, but the draw at Brighton still did little to help the Foxes’ hopes of survival.

Twice the Seagulls led through two Joao Pedro penalties. But Brighton’s ambitions of European football next season were dealt a blow as Stephy Mavididi and Caleb Okoli levelled for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2025