Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge suffered another blow in a 2-1 defeat at Fulham on Sunday, as Tottenham Hotpsur beat AFC Bournemouth 3-1 to close in on their north London rivals.
The Gunners’ high hopes of a first league title in 20 years have been rocked by two damaging defeats in four days.
Mikel Arteta was looking for a response after losing 2-0 at home to West Ham United on Thursday, but was left angered by what he described as his side’s “worst performance of the season.”
Photo: Reuters
Arsenal remain in fourth, two points behind leaders Liverpool and level on 40 points with Manchester City, but having played a game more than both their title rivals.
“If we play like today we will be nowhere near. Today was a really difficult day to swallow,” Arteta said on his side’s title aspirations. “It’s a really sad day today because we didn’t deserve to win the game.”
Arsenal had started brightly at Craven Cottage as Bukayo Saka pounced to tap home his first goal in six games after Bernd Leno parried Gabriel Martinelli’s initial effort.
However, the visitors failed to build on their early advantage and Fulham hit back to snap a three-game losing run in the Premier League without even scoring a goal.
Tottenham closed to within a point of the Champions League places.
Ange Postecoglou’s men shrugged off a mounting injury crisis to inflict Bournemouth’s first defeat in eight games.
Fifth-placed Spurs are just three points off the top with the table tantalizingly poised heading into the new year.
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