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Arsenal goes top as Villa capitulates again
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Arsenal enjoyed an easy 2-0 victory at Aston Villa yesterday to soar to the summit of the English Premier League and leave its hapless opponent rooted at rock bottom.
A landmark 50th Premier League goal from Olivier Giroud, a penalty converted four days after his Champions League hat-trick against Olympiakos Piraeus, swiftly brought more gloom to Villa Park after eight minutes.
Mesut Ozil then produced his 13th assist of the season to allow Aaron Ramsey to slot home a second goal in the 38th and enable Arsenal to move on to 33 points, one point clear of Manchester City and Leicester City.
Leicester has the chance to regain the lead when it entertains Chelsea today.
Villa improved in the second half as the Gunners took their foot off the gas but manager Remi Garde, who as a player was once signed by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, could only hear the grumbles of discontent as his side went a club-record 15th league game without a win.
The defeat left Villa stranded at the foot of the table on six points from 16 games, six adrift of 19th-placed Sunderland.
Elsewhere, first it was criticism of Manchester United’s playing style. Then came the team’s limp exit at the Champions League group stage. On Saturday, it was a loss to tiny Bournemouth in one of the league’s biggest-ever mismatches.
The problems are stacking up for under-pressure United manager Louis van Gaal in his second season in charge of England’s biggest club.
United — depleted by a wretched run of injuries to senior players — conceded directly from a corner in the 2nd minute on its way to a humbling 1-2 loss at Bournemouth, the latest shock result in a season of Premier League surprises.
Earlier in the day, Manchester City had needed a huge deflected goal just to get a 2-1 home win over Swansea City, which is without a manager and on one of the worst run of results in the league.
Bournemouth’s first season in the top flight is starting to get better and better. The little coastal club that almost dropped out of the country’s professional leagues six years ago beat Chelsea 1-0 away last weekend for what ranked as the biggest win in its 116-year history.
Saturday’s win may just top the result at Stamford Bridge — although some will say it’s no shock, given United’s recent struggles and its extensive injury list. But that won’t stop a deluge of criticism toward Van Gaal.
In front of 11,500 fans in Bournemouth’s cramped and atmospheric Vitality Stadium, United went behind when Junior Stanislas’ curling corner kick sailed directly into the far corner.
Marouane Fellaini equalized but more embarrassment for United at a 54th-minute corner handed Bournemouth victory, with Josh King finding himself in lots of space to turn in a shot from a pre-planned corner routine.
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