Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has challenged his players to “keep digging” for the Premier League title after a statement victory at Newcastle.
Arteta, who showed his squad video clips of their 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park last season from the Amazon documentary All or Nothing on the morning of the game, is convinced the prize is still there for the taking with leaders Manchester City a point better off with a game in hand.
Speaking after Sunday’s 2-0 win on Tyneside, he said: “We are there, now we want to keep digging. The prize is there, not too far.
“The only thing we can do is keep insisting and don’t turn our backs and lose the focus on something else, be determined every single day. Let’s keep going and see what happens.”
The Gunners secured the points courtesy of Martin Odegaard’s first-half strike and Fabian Schar’s own goal after the break in a performance of real character as they helped keep the Champions League-chasing Magpies at bay with a combination of excellence and game-management which infuriated the locals.
Asked if their display had proved they will fight until the end, Arteta said: “It proves that we’ve done it today. Now we have to prove that we are able to do it against Brighton.
“We’ve done it for eight and a half months and we have to keep doing it. We are there and now it feels very different to 10 days ago and we have to now make sure that the momentum is there.”
Arsenal rather turned the tables on Newcastle, who had annoyed Arteta and his players in January’s 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium with their game-management, and the Spaniard was unapologetic.
He said: “We have done what we had to to win the game and I’m very happy with that.”
A hugely entertaining contest might have panned out differently had Jacob Murphy not been denied by the post, or had referee Chris Kavanagh not been asked to review his decision to award a penalty against Jakub Kiwior after ruling he had blocked Bruno Guimaraes’ goal-bound shot with his hand.
The Gunners took full advantage of their reprieve when Odegaard, who along with Jorginho turned in an accomplished performance in the middle of the field, blasted them into a 14th-miute lead and the points were secure when Schar unwittingly deflected Gabriel Martinelli’s cross into his own net.
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe, whose side are now just three points clear of Liverpool in the race for a top-four finish, although with a game in hand, was in philosophical in defeat.
Howe said: “At this stage of the season with four games to go for us, absolutely I have to be measured, I have to be, I think, very positive.
“I don’t think there’s any time for negativity to creep into my psychology or the players’ psychology.
“I’m proud of the players today. I know the result went against us, but you could see the effort and commitment of what we tried to deliver. It was a high-quality game, it was end-to-end, it was open, but we were just missing that X-factor today, that missing part of our game.
“We hope against Leeds in our next game that we deliver that together because we have a tough run of fixtures to come and we need to get some results to get over the line.”
Salah's contract 'up to him and the club', says Slot
Arne Slot has asserted Mohamed Salah’s future is “up to him and the club”.
The Liverpool star has yet to make a decision on whether to renew his contract, and as it stands, will be leaving Anfield at the end of the season.
Salah remains a key player for the Reds, and leads the club for Premier League goals (seven) and assists (five) this term.
He scored the winner in the 72nd minute to complete Liverpool’s comeback against Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday, as they moved to the top of the table.
And despite the question marks over Salah's future, Slot is not concerned.
"[His future] is not what I think about. The only thing I think about is he is so important for us. Scores important goals, works hard for the team," the Liverpool boss told TNT Sports.
"I’m hoping he can enjoy that feeling many, many, many more times. Especially if I’m here but also if I’m not here. I’m hoping he can do this many more times.
"He’s been incredible for Liverpool over the past eight years. He’s been incredible for us this season and I hope he can continue doing this for the rest of the season and maybe longer to come, but that’s up to him and the club to find the idea about the future."
Salah could be in for a historic night on Tuesday when Liverpool face Bayer Leverkusen, having scored in each of his last five Champions League appearances at Anfield.
The last player to score in six consecutive home games in the competition for an English club was Ruud van Nistelrooy for Manchester United in April 2003.
Salah sparked renewed talk over his future after posting on Instagram on Sunday, saying that the feeling of scoring at Anfield would remain unforgettable “no matter what happens.”
But Slot was keen to quash any deeper meaning in the post.
"I haven’t spoken to him about that. You interpreted it in a way that maybe other people don’t," he told the press.
"I don’t look at Instagram posts of my players, I only talk to them which you can’t, which is the advantage I have.
"Mo is in a very good place at the moment. As long as he has been at Liverpool, he has been in a very good place, but this season again as well. I am hoping he will make a post after tomorrow and on Saturday again. What he said with that, that is not important.
"For me what is important is how he plays and what he tells me when we have conversations. That is what matters and not how you guys interpret one of his posts."
Silva grateful Fulham's dominance was rewarded with late win
Marco Silva believes Fulham claimed a "deserved win" against Brentford, though admits they should have secured the three points much earlier in their 2-1 victory.
It looked like Vitaly Janelt's 24th-minute strike against the run of play was going to wrap up all three points for Brentford, but Harry Wilson proved the Cottagers' hero off the bench, scoring twice in stoppage time to snatch the three points.
Fulham had dominated from the first whistle and had 26 shots, 12 of which were on target, though they struggled to find a way past their opponents' staunch defence until the 92nd minute.
Wilson became just the sixth player to score an equalising and match-winning goal from the 90th minute onwards in the Premier League, while his second goal was Fulham's latest-ever Premier League winner at 96:46.
Silva was delighted with how his team pushed until the final seconds to ensure they came away with a win.
"It was definitely a deserved win. We started on the front foot and dominated all the game. In the first 20 minutes, we had two clear chances to score," Silva told BBC Sport.
"After they scored, we didn't lose the confidence and the trust in ourselves, we kept pushing them back, and we created enough to not be losing at half-time.
"I told the players this is football, it can happen, but we have to keep pushing, working hard and playing our way.
"It was late, it should've been much before, but that's football."
Brentford, meanwhile, have now dropped a league-high 14 points from winning positions in the Premier League as they suffered a fifth consecutive away defeat in the competition.
In fact, they are the first side in the competition's history to score the first goal in four consecutive away games and lose all four.
They had defended resolutely until their late lapse in concentration, and even had a chance to win it, only for Bernd Leno's impressive save to keep out Fabio Carvalho in the 95th minute.
Thomas Frank, though, admitted he was not yet ready to take the positives from the performance after the disappointment of their late defeat.
"It was tough. It is emotionally very tough right now," Frank told Sky Sports.
"When you are leading in the 92nd minute, and you lose, it is tough. I don't think we hit our highest level. I think on the day Fulham were better.
"There was a lot of good defending and effort, and I thought that would have given us the win. We could have won it with the chance for Fabio Carvalho and then we lost.
"When we look at the game back, and we are more cool-headed, we will probably be very happy with the defensive standard. I thought there were unbelievable blocks, and recovery runs and all that we did well. On the ball, we didn't do enough."
Fulham 2-1 Brentford: Wilson's late brace seals comeback win
Harry Wilson scored twice in stoppage time as Fulham came back to beat Brentford 2-1 in an enthralling West London derby.
Wilson was the hero from Fulham's bench on Monday, as Marco Silva's team – who were on the wrong end of a late comeback against Everton last time out in the Premier League – salvaged a victory from the jaws of defeat.
Fulham will feel it was a win they earned from a match they dominated from the off, with the Bees having taken the lead against the run of play through Vitaly Janelt's stunning 24th-minute strike.
But the Fulham pressure finally told when Wilson rose high to flick in his first in the 92nd minute, and – after Bernd Leno made a superb stop to thwart Brentford at the other end – the former Liverpool midfielder nodded in again to send Craven Cottage into raptures.
Fulham's win takes them up into ninth, while Brentford drop to 12th after suffering a fifth league loss of the season.
Data Debrief: Super-sub Wilson to the rescue
Fulham will feel they deserved to come away from that match with three points, having had 26 shots, 12 of which were on target, in an incredibly dominant display.
They also had 46 touches in the opposition box compared to Brentford's nine, but they could not make those count, at least until Wilson's late intervention as he finally broke through Brentford's stubborn defence.
The Welshman scored with both of his shots on target, having three attempts overall, with his goals coming from a combined 0.19 expected goals.
The Bees looked sure to get a first away win, and first clean sheet, of the Premier League season until their late lapse in concentration, and they have now dropped 14 points from winning positions in the competition this season, more than any other team.
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