LONDON: Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge was dented by an unexpected 1-0 home loss to West Ham on Saturday that featured a fifth red card of the season for Mikel Arteta’s team.
Second-place Arsenal squandered a chance to trim the gap to Liverpool to five points as Jarrod Bowen’s first-half header secured a win for West Ham, which arrived at Emirates Stadium with just one victory in their last eight games.
There was worse to come for Arsenal, with left back Myles Lewis-Skelly handed a red card following a video review for his foul as the last man. The team’s disciplinary record under Arteta has come under scrutiny this season — and might yet cost the Gunners the title, along with key injuries to their attack.
With the likes of Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus out injured, Arsenal had only two shots on target against West Ham.
It leaves Liverpool with an eight-point cushion, having played the same number of games as Arsenal, and that advantage could grow when the leaders play Manchester City away on Sunday.
Fifth-place Bournemouth lost 1-0 at home to Wolverhampton to damage their bid for a finish in the Champions League qualification positions.
Bournemouth defender Illya Zabarnyi’s 31st-minute red card was quickly followed by the winning goal by Matheus Cunha for Wolves.
Tottenham won 4-1 at Ipswich to further ease the pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou, last-place Southampton lost 4-0 at home to Brighton, and Crystal Palace won 2-0 at Fulham.
Arsenal lose to West Ham to dent Premier League title challenge and have another player sent off
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Arsenal lose to West Ham to dent Premier League title challenge and have another player sent off
- Second-place Arsenal squandered a chance to trim the gap to Liverpool to five points
- With the likes of Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus out injured, Arsenal had only two shots on target against West Ham
Sanders crashes out of Dakar Rally contention and Al-Attiyah reclaims car lead
- The Australian’s KTM finished 28 minutes behind stage 10 winner Adrien van Beveren’s Honda
- Al-Attiyah has a sixth Dakar triumph in sight
BISHA, Saudi Arabia: Dakar Rally front-runner Daniel Sanders crashed and fell out of motorbike title contention and Nasser Al-Attiyah snatched back the car lead in the Saudi desert on Wednesday.
Sanders broke his left collarbone and sternum jumping a dune 138 kilometers into the 368-kilometer second half of a marathon stage to Bisha. The defending champion continued but slower and within 30 kilometers his six-minute overnight lead was gone.
The Australian’s KTM finished 28 minutes behind stage 10 winner Adrien van Beveren’s Honda and he dropped from first overall to fourth, more than 17 minutes back, two minutes off the podium.
That left the title to be decided between new leader Ricky Brabec and Luciano Benavides, second and third on the stage. The American’s Honda and Argentine’s KTM were separated overall by 56 seconds ahead of, effectively, a two stage shootout. The final stage on Saturday is usually a ceremonial ride.
Brabec won the Dakar in 2020 and 2024 while Benavides has never won; best placing was fourth last year.
Al-Attiyah has a sixth Dakar triumph in sight.
The dunes specialist from Qatar stamped his authority on the sandy special to finish second to Mathieu Serradori, who gave South African manufacturer Century its first Dakar stage win.
Serradori won his second career stage by six minutes.
The Fords of Nani Roma (first overnight), Carlos Sainz (second) and Mattias Ekström (fifth) were the biggest losers.
Ekström was first to the checkpoint at 91 kilometers but moments later suffered a mechanical problem. Roma lost his way and dropped 10 minutes just before passing 200 kilometers. Sainz also made a navigation error in the soft sand.
“I’m knackered, my back hurts, I suffered a lot today,” Roma said. “But that’s part of the game.”
Also, Toyota’s Henk Lategan, fourth overnight, ran out of fuel and made a navigation error.
Al-Attiyah grabbed the provisional overall lead about 200 kilometers into the 420-kilometer special and topped a Dacia 2-3-4 stage finish with Sébastien Loeb and Lucas Moraes.
“My head and body have taken a real beating,” Al-Attiyah said. “But we really attacked from start to finish. Fabian (Lurquin, navigator) did a great job and we can feel both happy and lucky because it was really hard.”
Overall, Al-Attiyah earned his biggest lead yet, over Lategan by 12 minutes, Roma by nearly 13 and Loeb by 23. Ekström and Sainz fell more than 34 minutes back.
