Premier League review – Top three results

From a dominate home performance and keeping the pressure on to a London derby win, here is our top three results from matchweek 28.

Liverpool strengthened their hunt for Champions League football this season by thrashing a struggling West Ham at Anfield on Saturday.

The Red’s stormed into a commanding lead early in the game, and ended up going into the break 3-0 ahead.

The first three goals all came from set-piece situations: Hugo Ekitike opened the scoring in the fifth minute when West Ham failed to clear a corner, Virgil van Dijk nodded in from another corner in the 24th, and Alexis Mac Allister volleyed home a third just before the break.

West Ham fought back after the interval, with Tomáš Souček pulling one back early in the second half, giving the visitors the slight hope of a comeback.

However, Liverpool soon restored their three-goal cushion when Cody Gakpo converted in the 70th minute. West Ham then scored again when Valentín Castellanos nodded in a corner to make it 4–2, but an own goal by Axel Disasi off a cross from Jeremie Frimpong sealed the final score at 5–2 in Liverpool’s favour.

The win for Liverpool takes them a step closer to the top four and has put them right on the heels of Aston Villa, who were beat by Wolves on Friday night.

In a week when nothing less than victory would suffice to keep pace with table-toppers Arsenal, City delivered, grinding out a hard-fought win at one of the Premier League’s toughest grounds.

With Erling Haaland sidelined by a minor injury, City still found a way to beat Leeds thanks to a decisive strike from Antoine Semenyo, who converted a well-worked finish deep into first-half stoppage time to give the visitors the lead heading into the break.

Despite the hosts starting brightly and creating several early chances, including opportunities by Dominic Calvert-Lewin that went begging. City gradually grew into the game and managed to control large spells of possession as the contest progressed.

The West Yorkshire side ramped up their intensity in the second half, pressing for an equalizer, but were unable to breach a resolute City defence.

The result moved Pep Guardiola side to within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal at the time, maintaining pressure in the title race as the Gunners were poised to face off against Chelsea in a London derby.

Mikel Arteta’s side have shown tremendous resilience over the past two matchweeks, collecting six points from back-to-back London derbies, the latest a hard-earned victory over Chelsea on Sunday night. Unlike in previous seasons, Arsenal have shown no signs of mental fatigue, reasserting their authority at the top of the table by restoring a five-point lead after City’s victory over Leeds on Saturday.

The hosts struck first when William Saliba headed in from a corner midway through the first half, the French defender got on the end of Gabriel’s header back into the box to nod his team ahead.

It wasn’t complete domination from Arsenal however, as Chelsea were causing problems as they often found space behind the home team’s midfield. This led to the Blue’s winning a corner kick which ended up in Arsenal’s net through an own goal by Piero Hincapié right on the brink of half-time.

It was all to play for in the second half with Arteta’s side showing experience by staying calm and keeping possession of the ball. They were rewarded for this just after the hour mark with their goal coming from another set-piece, this time it was Jurrien Timber who was in the right place at the right time to put the home side back ahead.

Chelsea, like so often this season were the masters of their own downfall, the side were reduced to 10 men when Pedro Neto was shown a second yellow card, adding to the Blues’ disciplinary struggles this season.

Liam Rosenior’s side continued to press in search of a late equaliser and came agonisingly close in the dying moments, only for Alejandro Garnacho to be denied by a superb save from David Raya.

The win allowed Arsenal to regain their five-point cushion at the top of the Premier League table with just nine games left to play.