LONDON (AFP) - Arsenal moved into the Premier League top four, but made hard work of seeing off 10-man Watford 1-0 thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's fortunate early opener on Monday (April 15).
Aubameyang profited from an error by Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster as he blasted an attempted clearance in off the Gabon international.
Watford captain Troy Deeney was then shown a straight red card after just 11 minutes, but the Gunners failed to make the most of their man advantage and were fortunate as the hosts twice hit the woodwork.
However, Unai Emery's men held out for a first clean sheet away from home in the Premier League this season to move ahead of Chelsea on goal difference into fourth.
Arsenal also edge to within a point of north London rivals Tottenham and two clear of Manchester United in the four-way battle for the two remaining Champions League places behind Liverpool and Manchester City.
FA Cup finalists Watford were already shorn of the man who helped book their place at Wembley against Manchester City next month as Gerard Deulofeu missed out through injury and Javi Gracia's side did themselves little favours early on.
Firstly, Foster dallied as Aubameyang closed in to concede a comical opener.
And within seconds, Deeney was punished for an elbow into the face of Lucas Torreira.
Arsenal now have just three days to prepare for the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final away to Napoli and should have ensured an easier finish.
Aubameyang saw another effort deflected behind at the end of a sweeping counter-attack, while Foster also turned over a fierce Alex Iwobi shot.
However, the 10 men were still causing problems to a defensively vulnerable Arsenal at the other end.
Craig Cathcart's shot was turned onto the post by Bernd Leno and the German goalkeeper was also a full stretch to turn an Etienne Capoue free-kick behind.
Emery introduced Mesut Ozil at half-time in an attempt to improve Arsenal's final ball with so much space to counter-attack into, but to little avail.
Iwobi looked to have provided the perfect cross to pick out Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but Foster made amends for his earlier error by spreading himself to make a brilliant save from the Armenian.
Arsenal's terrible away record is why they face such a tight battle to secure Champions League football next season.
And they could have thrown just a second away league win since November away as Adam Masina crashed a 25-yard strike off the crossbar before Andre Gray miscontrolled Daryl Janmaat's pass when clean through on Leno.
Gray was then denied by a last-ditch challenge from Ainsley Maitland-Niles after rounding Leno, but without the firepower of Deulofeu and Deeney, Watford's brave effort fell just short.
England's Harry Kane celebrates scoring their 4th goal with Raheem Sterling, Ross Barkley and Jordan Henderson. (Reuters pic) PODGORICA: England recovered from an early scare in Montenegro as
England thrash Montenegro 5-1 after early scare - CNA
Football: Ikhsan Fandi determined to step out of dad Fandi Ahmad's shadow and succeed in Norway stint Ikhsan Fandi tells us what his favourite local breakfast is, whether he has a girlfriend, and
Fandi's second son Ikhsan wants to step out of dad's shadow
Qatar thrash UAE amid ugly scenes to reach Asian Cup final AFC Asian Cup semi-final football match between Qatar and UAE at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on January 29, 2019
FIFA says 48-team World Cup 'feasible'; decision in June (1:52) FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants Qatar to have a co-host and will present an expansion proposal at June's congress in Paris.
Qatar to not decide on 48-team World Cup until it's seen FIFA
We trust ourselves. It's just three goals. If it's 10 goals against us, then it's a problem. "In a game, both teams want to win. That's football. We (the fans and the team) have to grow together
The Importance of Self-Trust - Mike Robbins
Ryan Giggs has hit back at Zlatan Ibrahimovic over his criticism of the Class of 92 by insisting players with 'over 2,000 games between us' are entitled to have an opinion about Manchester United.
Giggs hits back after Zlatan criticism of Man Utd 'Class of
Antonio Conte is set to take over from Luciano Spalletti as Inter Milan boss and the change looks set to be a costly one for the club. Spalletti has spent two years in charge of the Nerazzurri but
Luciano Spalletti News Report - Newsmeter
Sterling honoured with award for fighting racism. Manchester City's England forward Raheem Sterling has been awarded The Integrity and Impact Award at this year's BT Sport Industry Awards
England's Sterling honoured with award for fighting racism
Liverpool staying positive despite blip, says Klopp. Jurgen Klopp has vowed that Liverpool will remain positive as they battle for the Premier League title despite a wobble that has enabled
Liverpool staying positive despite blip, says Klopp
Reds boss Klopp turns attention to Champions League As the sun-soaked Liverpool fans retreated to the pubs around the city, the mood remained upbeat. that's all we care about now
Liverpool celebrations: Champions League final, You'll Never
As with life, striking a balance in football is key to success and happiness. On Friday night in Busan, the Socceroos face Korea Republic in a curious clash, where a new-look squad will take on
Need for speed the answer to topple Thailand | Socceroos
Croatia fixtures tab is showing last 100 handball matches with statistics and win/lose icons. There are also all Croatia scheduled matches that they are going to play in the future. Croatia performance & form graph is SofaScore Handball livescore unique algorithm that we are generating from last 10 matches, statistics, detailed analysis and our
Shootout Sunday: Croatia Follows Russia's Lead and Wins on
0 comments:
Post a Comment