•Arsenal midfielder Myles Lewis-Skelly (C) runs with the ball during the English Premier League football match against Manchester City yesterday
Arsenal’s 5-1 demolition of Manchester City yesterday kept the Gunners still within reach of Liverpool in the Premier League title race, while Nottingham Forest took a giant stride towards next season’s Champions League.
Liverpool showed why they are on course to be champions by ending Bournemouth’s 12-game unbeaten run thanks to Mohamed Salah’s double on Saturday, only for Arsenal to deliver a statement win over the dethroned and disorganised defending champions, reports AFP.
At the other end of the table, the battle to avoid relegation looks increasingly like three from the bottom four as Everton and Tottenham pulled clear of the drop zone.
Below are three talking points from the Premier League weekend.
Arsenal’s teen stars
A day to savour for Arsenal against the side that has denied them the title in each of the past two seasons was lit up by goals from academy graduates Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri.
The teenagers became the youngest players to score in the Premier League against the reigning champions since Wayne Rooney announced his arrival for Everton against Arsenal in 2003.
Lewis-Skelly would have been banned had his controversial red card against Wolves last weekend not been rescinded.
The left-back made the most of that reprieve with a barnstorming performance that was capped by his first goal for the club.
He rounded it off with a cocksure celebration as he mimicked City striker Erling Haaland’s trademark meditation pose.
Nwaneri completed the rout with his seventh goal of the season and is thriving in the extra minutes offered by Bukayo Saka’s injury layoff.
The vibrancy of Arsenal’s youth contrasted sharply with an ageing City side, whose best days are clearly behind them and need a refresh if Pep Guardiola is to make them contenders again next season.
Liverpool’s six-point lead, with a game in hand to come, may prove too much for Arsenal to usurp by May.
But there is plenty of promise in the future for Mikel Arteta’s men thanks to two potential homegrown superstars.
Forest’s magnificent seven
Forest responded to any questions over their top-four credentials with a stunning 7-0 thrashing of Brighton on Saturday.
Chris Wood netted a hat-trick, while Morgan Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga also shone in a devastating response to a 5-0 defeat at Bournemouth a week earlier.
To round off a fine few days for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, they then watched as all the chasing pack for a place in the Champions League lost.
On top of defeats for City and Bournemouth, Newcastle fell 2-1 to Fulham and Aston Villa 2-0 at Wolves.
Forest’s lead over fifth-placed Newcastle now stands at six points.
Even a top-five finish should be enough to secure Champions League this season due to English sides’ strong start in the European competitions.
Everton’s ‘Moyesiah’
David Moyes has rolled back the years at Goodison Park since taking charge of Everton for the second time last month.
The Scot, who made his name in a 11-year spell with the Toffees between 2002 and 2013, came back expecting a relegation battle to prolong the club’s 71-year stay in the top flight.
But a 4-0 win over Leicester was Everton’s third consecutive victory to move nine points clear of the bottom three and within three of Manchester United in 13th.
“The job is to make sure we are a Premier League team. The last three results will go a long way to making that happen,” said Moyes.
“I found the noise incredible. I remember what it was always like. You have to give them something to shout about, and we did that from the start.”
By contrast, Leicester’s eighth defeat in nine dropped them back behind Wolves into the bottom three.
Ipswich’s hopes of survival also took a huge hit as bottom-of-the-table Southampton won for the first time since November at Portman Road.
