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Free-Scoring Arsenal Blow Away Burnley, Keep Pressure On Title Race

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Arsenal demolished Burnley 5-0 to keep up the pressure in the title race on Saturday.

At Turf Moor, second placed Arsenal made it five consecutive wins to move within two points of Liverpool.

Mikel Arteta’s side have beaten Liverpool and won 6-0 at West Ham in their most notable results since a revitalising warm-weather training camp in Dubai.

And they were too hot for second-bottom Burnley to handle from the fourth minute when Martin Odegaard drilled home from Gabriel Martinelli’s pass.

Arsenal winger,Bukayo Saka netted with a 41st-minute penalty awarded for Lorenz Assignon’s foul on Leandro Trossard

Saka struck again two minutes after half-time, rifling into the top corner from Odegaard’s pass as the England winger made it six goals in his last four games.

Trossard got the fourth from close-range in the 66th minute and Kai Havertz converted Jakub Kiwior’s pass with 12 minutes left.

Third placed Manchester City, who have two games in hand on Liverpool, will move level on points with Arsenal if they beat Chelsea in Saturday’s late game.

Tottenham’s top four bid suffered a blow as Joao Gomes struck twice in Wolves’ surprise 2-1 win in north London.

Ange Postecoglou’s team were beaten in the league for the first time in 2024, with Gomes heading in the opener after 42 minutes.

Dejan Kulusevski equalised immediately after the interval, but Brazilian midfielder Gomes won it for Wolves with a 63rd minute blast after an incisive break from the visitors.

Aston Villa took advantage of Tottenham’s stumble to climb back into fourth place with a 2-1 win at Fulham.

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Ollie Watkins scored either side of the break for Unai Emery’s side and although Fulham got one back through Rodrigo Muniz, they were unable to force an equaliser.

Nottingham Forest beat 10-man West Ham 2-0 at the City Ground in a major boost to their survival hopes.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side moved five points clear of the relegation zone thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal five minutes into first half stoppage-time and Callum Hudson-Odoi’s strike just before the final whistle.

West Ham midfielder Kalvin Phillips, on loan from Manchester City, was sent off in the 71st minute for two bookings in the space of four minutes.

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe avoided defeat against his former club Bournemouth in a 2-2 draw at St James’ Park.

Dominic Solanke’s 51st minute opener for Bournemouth was cancelled out by Anthony Gordon’s penalty seven minutes later.

Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo fired into the bottom corner in the 69th minute, but Matt Ritchie equalised in stoppage-time.

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It’s PSG, Inter Milan Final as Arsenal Suffer Another Paris Heartbreak

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Arsenal’s bid to win the Champions League for the first time is over after they suffered a 2-1 second-leg defeat to Paris St Germain at the Parc des Princes.

Mikel Arteta’s players were already one goal down in the semi-final first leg, and, despite a strong start, they were two behind in the tie when Fabian Ruiz struck for PSG after 27 minutes.

Vitinha missed a penalty – after Myles Lewis-Skelly was adjudged to have handled the ball following a contentious VAR review – before Achraf Hakimi put the match out of sight in the 72nd minute.

But it is PSG, who have now beaten three Premier League sides in a row, with Arsenal following Liverpool and Aston Villa in succumbing to the French champions, that will play Inter Milan in the final on May 31 after a 3-1 aggregate success.

Arsenal’s sole appearance in a Champions League final came here in Paris in 2006 where they suffered a late defeat to Barcelona, and the French capital was the scene of yet more heartbreak for the north Londoners.

RESULTS

UCL

PSG 2-1 Arsenal

(PSG 3-1 agg.)

U20 AFCON

Nigeria 2-2 Kenya

(F’Eagles for Q’finals)

Tunisia 1-3 Morocco

(Morocco for Q’finals)

Europa League

Man Utd v Bilbao

Bodo/Glimt v Tottenham

Europa Conference

Chelsea v Djurgarden

Fiorentina v Betis

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Nothing can stop us from getting into Champions League final – Arsenal

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Arsenal’s Declan Rice insisted Tuesday the Gunners are confident they can “deliver something special” by overturning a 1-0 first-leg deficit when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital in the return match of their Champions League semi-final tie.

“We’re here to win the game. We’re here to make a statement. We want to get to the final. So we need to be ready to go and do that,” Rice told reporters at the Parc des Princes on the eve of Wednesday’s showdown.

“We need to have big balls and we need to go out there on the biggest stage and show that we’re ready to play at this level.

“It’s going to be the biggest night in this club’s history if we can get to the final. So we’re fully ready to go.”

PSG hold the advantage coming into Wednesday’s match after Ousmane Dembele’s early goal gave them a narrow victory at the Emirates Stadium a week ago.

However, both Rice and Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta said they believed they could get the better of a side who have eliminated Premier League opposition in each of the last two rounds, knocking out Liverpool in the last 16 and Aston Villa in the quarter-finals.

“I think you need to have full belief,” Rice said.

“We certainly have that as a group. I think if we are the best versions of ourselves tomorrow night -– and we know we can be that –- there is no stopping us getting into that final.”

The England star said Arsenal could lean on the experience of facing reigning European champions Real Madrid in Spain in the last round, when Arteta’s team won 2-1 to progress 5-1 on aggregate.

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“When we went to the Bernabeu the other week there were a lot of questions about whether we could rise to that occasion,” said Rice, who scored two wonderful free-kicks in the first leg of that tie.

“We obviously had a 3-0 lead but there was still so much talk about them coming back and playing at the Bernabeu and we had not experienced that before.

“But I think as a group we handled that amazingly well. We have proved that we can handle big situations and tomorrow night is another massive step for this team.”

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U-20 AFCON: Nigeria battle Morocco to goalless draw

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The Flying Eagles of Nigeria were held to a goalless draw by Morocco in their second Group B match in the ongoing U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tightly contested clash took place on Sunday at the June 30 Air Defence Stadium in Cairo.

Clear-cut chances were few in the cagey affair.

The Flying Eagles controlled proceedings in the first half but managed only one shot on target.

Morocco dominated possession in the second half but failed to pose any serious threat to Nigeria’s goalkeeper Ebenezer Harcourt.

With the result, Morocco remain at the top of the group on goal difference, having accrued the same number of points as Nigeria (four).

Tunisia, who earlier defeated Kenya 3-1 in the group’s other fixture, are in third place with three points.

The Flying Eagles will face Kenya in their final Group B match on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

NAN reports that the top four teams from the tournament will qualify to represent Africa at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile, scheduled to take place from Sept. 27 to Oct. 19. (NAN)

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