Declan Rice caps comfortable win as Arsenal keep pressure on title rivals

04/05/2024 15:53

Mikel Arteta had wanted something less stressful than Arsenal's previous home win over Bournemouth and he got his wish. In March of last year, his team had needed a 97^th-minute Reiss Nelson goal to complete a wild 3-2 victory from 2-0 down. Here there was glory in the general sense of comfort and control, Arsenal moving to 83 points, still asking the question of the defending champions, Manchester City, who kick-off against Wolves at 5.30pm.

It was not entirely straightforward; it rarely is. Arsenal caught a break at 2-0 up when an Antoine Semenyo goal was disallowed on the advice of the VAR for a foul by Dominic Solanke on the goalkeeper, David Raya.