The Near Post

With the title race beginning to take its final shape, the pressure was turned up on Arsenal following their 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this week,  a draw which continued to open up space for Pep Guardiola's side to draw closer to the league leaders.  As each second came closer to the Gunners' North London Derby trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon, the tension grew palpably with Guardiola's City already trimming the lead to just two points following their narrow win against Newcastle United on Saturday.  So when Arsenal took to the hostile ground against new Spurs coach, Igor Tudor, every touch had to be perfect. Fortunately for Mikel Arteta, most were in Arsenal's 4-1 win. Sustained dominance from the league leaders From minute one, Arsenal were the agressor pinning fullbacks Piero Hincapié and Jurrien Timber to Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard's side, with two early chances to show thanks to a cross from Timber into the box to striker ...

As Winter is slowly beginning to ebb away, the 2025/26 Premier League title race turned up the temperature inside a packed Anfield as Manchester City narrow frontrunner, Arsenal's league advantage to just six points, Sunday evening with a thrilling 2-1 win over sixth-place Liverpool.  Through the first 45 minutes, City looked to have been reeling back the years with waves of continous pressure and a constricting press which hardly let the Merseyside club out of their own half, as Pep Guardiola's side dominated with 61% possesion , while also heaping on 10 shots —three on target— in comparison to Liverpool's paltry three shots which included none on target.  Despite City's statistical dominance, chances came few and far between, with the only clear-cut opportunity coming to Erling Haaland 87 seconds in, thanks to a diagonal run and a threaded pass from Bernardo Silva. Haaland could not get the ball away from his feet fast enough before Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson swoope...

Towards the end of the first half stoppage time, Spurs' Dutch No. 7, Xavi Simons, stepped up for a free kick just outside the box in what was a dangerous opportunity for Thomas Frank's squad. Simons stepped up with confidence but ended up pelting the ball into the hands of Manchester City's Gianluigi Donnarumma to end what was an unremarkable first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which saw City breeze with a 2-0 lead.  Throughout the first 45 minutes, Spurs could not get a meaningful foot on the ball, while Pep Guardiola's side was breezing through the midfield, finding unmarked zones across the pitch, which resulted in over double the accurate passes and a 2-0 advantage.  To start, Tottenham's Yves Bissouma was caught on the ball by the fiesty Bernardo Silva, who then picked a pass to striker Erling Haaland, who then laid a pass off to the oncoming right winger Rayan Cherki. Cherki glided down the pitch and just inside the box in front of center back Radu Dr...

  Since Manchester United took down Arsenal with a 3-1 result at Old Trafford in the 2022-23 season, United had secured just one point in its following six fixtures against the Gunners, with the North London side notching 16 of a possible 18 points. All that momentum came to a halt with what was a miraculous 3-2 win , which gave way to one of the most historic matches in recent Premier League history.   “The boys had to dig deep today,” quoted an exhausted Michael Carrick , who’s currently filling in as interim coach following the dismissal of Ruben Amorim earlier this month .  The first 20 minutes of the match went better than any Arsenal fan packed tightly into the sold-out Emirates Stadium could have asked for. Mikel Arteta’s side dictated play and kept themselves on the front foot and nearly scored from a Declan Rice free kick, which was neatly swung into the box before Summer signing Martin Zubimendi headed the lofted pass just above the head of United goaltender Se...