Arsenal made an exciting comeback after champions Manchester City beat Newcastle United on Saturday to beat Bournemouth 3-2 to maintain a five-point lead in the title race.
City’s 2-0 win reduced Arsenal’s lead to two points and their lead in first place seemed to be shattered as the leaders trailed 2-0 with an hour gone in north London.
However, goals from Thomas Partey and substitutes Ben White and Reiss Nelson (Nelson’s arrival in the 7th minute of injury time) caused enthusiastic celebration.
Chelsea eased some of the pressure from manager Graham Porter when French defender Wesley Fofana scored a second-half header to beat Leeds United 1-0 at home, their first win since 15 January.
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Tottenham Hotspur’s top four ambitions were thwarted after a 1-0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers who were once again starting to climb out of the relegation zone.
Brighton & Hove Albion, meanwhile, boosted their own hopes of qualifying for Europe as they thrashed struggling West Ham United 4-0 to stay in eighth place but with games on hand of all the teams above them. Aston Villa beat Crystal Palace 1-0.
Arsenal had not won a Premier League game in which they had trailed by at least two goals since 2012 so the omens looked bad for the Gunners as they were stunned by Bournemouth.
The visitors needed only 9.1 seconds to go ahead when Philip Billing scored with a close range finish after an audacious move straight from the kickoff — the second quickest goal in Premier League history behind Shane Long’s 7.69 seconds effort for Southampton against Watford in 2019.
Marcos Senesi rose unmarked to head in a second for his side just before the hour mark but it provoked a furious Arsenal response with Thomas Partey prodding a shot past Bournemouth keeper Neto shortly after the hour mark.
Eight minutes later White’s volley crossed the line despite Neto’s desperate dive but Bournemouth appeared to have held on for a point as the game went deep into stoppage time.
Pandemonium then broke out as the ball fell to Nelson from a corner and he sent a left-foot thunderbolt arrowing into the corner of the net to seal an unlikely victory which moved Arsenal to 63 points from 26 games to City’s 58.
“Everybody is overwhelmed a bit. It was madness from the first minute of the game where we defended so poorly and then you have to climb a mountain,” a still-buzzing Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta told reporters.
