Arsenal Goal Blast Stuns Crystal Palace, Martial Fires Man Utd To Victory

Arsenal eased to victory over Crystal Palace at the Emirates as Alexis Sanchez was left out of the squad ahead of his expected move to Manchester Untied.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said that the Chile international could be involved if the deal had not been completed, but he was again omitted.

Unlike last week, however, when Arsenal lost 2-1 at Bournemouth without the forward, his team-mates made light work of his absence here against a poor Palace side.

The hosts were four goals up inside the opening quarter of the game, with Nacho Monreal, Alex Iwobi, Laurent Koscielny and Alexandre Lacazette all hitting the target.

Luka Milivojevic struck a consolation for the visitors as Wenger’s side won their first match of 2018 to move within five points of the Premier League top four.

Burnley 0-1 Manchester United

Anthony Martial’s third goal in as many Premier League matches earned second-placed Manchester United victory at Burnley as they kept up the pressure on leaders Manchester City.

Having failed to register a shot on target in the first half, Martial fired the winner in off the crossbar nine minutes after the break as United picked up their second win since City’s first top-flight loss of the campaign at Liverpool last Sunday.

It was United’s fourth successive victory to start 2018 while Burnley, who had earned a point at Old Trafford on Boxing Day, slipped to their fourth consecutive loss of the new calendar year.

Though City’s lead remains significant, United fans looking for omens will note this game came 22 years to the day since they trailed Newcastle by 12 points after 23 games, a deficit they eventually overturned en route to the title.

Everton 1-1 West Brom

Oumar Niasse scored the fastest goal by a Premier League substitute this season to rescue a point for Everton against West Brom at Goodison Park.

Just 56 seconds after replacing £28million signing Cenk Tosun in the second half, Niasse volleyed in from debutant Theo Walcott’s assist to cancel out Jay Rodriguez’s seventh-minute opener.

However, Toffees boss Sam Allardyce’s 1,000th game as a manager was marred by an horrific-looking suspected broken leg sustained by midfielder James McCarthy.

It secured Everton’s first point since their dreary goalless draw at The Hawthorns on Boxing Day and prevented the Baggies moving out of the relegation zone.

Leicester 2-0 Watford

Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez fired Leicester to a routine win over Watford as Claude Puel’s powers of recovery continued.

Winger Mahrez – linked with a January move – maintained his fine form with a third goal in six games after Vardy’s first-half penalty put the Foxes ahead.

Leicester move up to seventh in the Premier League while Watford’s struggles continue with Marco Silva’s side having won just once in 11 games.

No such problems for Leicester boss Puel, though, who has now lost just four of his 18 games in charge.

Stoke 2-0 Huddersfield

Paul Lambert made a winning start as Stoke manager as a comfortable home victory against Huddersfield saw them climb out of the relegation zone.

Lambert had only had this week to work with his players but he had visibly lifted them and on Saturday the Potters did not look like a team who had been beaten in eight of their last 11 Premier League outings.

Roared on by a crowd fuelled with optimism, Stoke started brightly but they had to wait until the second half for the goals to come as Joe Allen and then Mame Diouf got their names on the score sheet.

The opener came on 53 minutes, when Charlie Adam set Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting free down the left and his cut back was steered into the bottom corner of the net by Allen.

Xherdan Shaqiri’s lovely flick then set up Diouf for the second goal in the 69th minute, with the Senegalese sliding a shot into the net off the inside of a post.

West Ham 1-1 Bournemouth

Javier Hernandez scored his first goal since October as West Ham and Bournemouth shared the spoils at the London Stadium.

Asmir Begovic denied Marko Arnautovic from point-blank range after 14 minutes and Bournemouth took the lead against the run of play through Ryan Fraser after 71 minutes.

The Hammers equalised immediately, as substitute Hernandez pounced to extend their unbeaten run to seven games. Bournemouth are now unbeaten in five in the league.

However, worryingly for David Moyes’ men, playmaker Manuel Lanzini went off with a knock in the second half and it is a year since West Ham last won successive Premier League games.

Source: Talksport