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• Arteta hails Arsenal resilience as crucial Chelsea clash looms

  Mikel Arteta has praised Arsenal for showing resilience during a difficult period and described his players as a "joy to work with" ahead of a crucial week in the Premier League title race. 

  All three title contenders – Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City – are in action twice this week, with the Gunners taking on Chelsea and Tottenham in two huge London derbies.

  They returned to the top of the table with Saturday's 2-0 win over injury-hit Wolves, but with City possessing a game in hand, the destination of the trophy remains out of their hands. 

  Following a difficult few days in which Arsenal surrendered control of the title race and exited the Champions League against Bayern Munich, Arteta was delighted with their response at Molineux. 

  "If you look at the amount of games we have played in the last few weeks, the type of games we have played, their effort is unquestionable and the results are something else," Arteta said.

  "It's a joy to work with them, and it makes us realise we want to be involved in the big competitions, fighting for the Champions League, fighting for the Premier League with the level that it requires."

  Chelsea's ambitions, meanwhile, are limited to securing qualification for either the Europa League or the Europa Conference League, with their hopes of silverware being dashed on Saturday. 

  They were guilty of spurning several golden opportunities in their 1-0 defeat to City at Wembley Stadium, with their wait for a first trophy under the Todd Boehly regime being extended.

  Mauricio Pochettino, though, is choosing to take the positives from that game as the Blues bid to draw level with Newcastle United and Manchester United in the table on Tuesday.  

  "Now we need to take the positive things from the game," Pochettino said. "This group of players needs these types of moments and games.

  "Now is the time to finish the season in the best way and then see how we can do better next season."

  PLAYERS TO WATCH 

  Arsenal – Leandro Trossard

  Trossard scored in October's reverse fixture as Arsenal fought back from 2-0 down to clinch a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, and he has provided an invaluable source of goals from the left wing in recent games, with Gabriel Jesus struggling.

  The former Brighton and Hove Albion man is enjoying his most prolific Premier League campaign, with nine goals, and only Bukayo Saka (14) has netted more for the Gunners this term.

  Chelsea – Nicolas Jackson

  Jackson missed several clear-cut chances as Chelsea failed to make the breakthrough against City at Wembley on Saturday, and he is perhaps running out of chances to show he can be the Blues' long-term solution in that number nine role.

  Jackson's 10 Premier League goals this season have come from a total of 13.98 expected goals (xG), giving him an underperformance of -3.98. Only Dominic Calvert Lewin (-5.98) and Darwin Nunez (-4.1) have underperformed their underlying numbers by a greater margin.

  MATCH PREDICTION – ARSENAL WIN

  Arsenal have only lost one of their last eight Premier League games against Chelsea (five wins, two draws), going unbeaten through their last four against them. That is their longest such streak versus the Blues since they went 19 matches against them without defeat between 1995 and 2005.

  Chelsea are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games (four wins, four draws) and have scored multiple goals in each of their last six. However, that run could come to a halt at the Emirates, with Arsenal possessing a strong record in the biggest games this term.

  City and Liverpool have already left north London defeated this season, and Arsenal have not lost back-to-back home Premier League games since April 2022. Chelsea should be competitive, but the Gunners cannot afford to miss this chance to pull clear of their rivals. 

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Arsenal 51%

  Chelsea 22.5%

  Draw 26.5%

• MLB: Dodgers' Ohtani hits milestone homer

  Shohei Ohtani became Major League Baseball's career home leader among Japanese-born players with a two-run shot that highlighted the Los Angeles Dodgers' 10-0 rout of the New York Mets on Sunday.

  Ohtani's third-inning blast off Adrian Houser helped support a stellar start from Tyler Glasnow as two of the Dodgers' marquee offseason additions took center stage.

  Glasnow scattered seven hits while striking out 10 over eight innings to improve to 4-1 since being acquired by Los Angeles from the Tampa Bay Rays in December.

  Ohtani's home run was his 176th in the major leagues, breaking a tie the reigning American League MVP shared with former New York Yankees star Hideki Matsui for the most by a Japanese native. 

  Andy Pages contributed his first major league homer, a three-run shot during a fifth inning in which the Dodgers scored eight times en route to ending a three-game losing streak and preventing the Mets from sweeping the three-game series.

  After Ohtani's historic home run broke a scoreless tie in the third inning, Los Angeles put the contest out of reach against Houser and reliever Grant Hartwig in the fifth. 

  Pages started the outburst with a lead-off double and later scored on Mookie Betts' single, and an infield hit by Ohtani loaded the bases before Freddie Freeman drove in two more runs with a double for a 5-0 lead.

  Will Smith followed with a two-run double of his own to extend the margin. Four batters later, Pages took Hartwig's pitch over the center field wall to cap the big inning and give Los Angeles a 10-0 advantage.

  Houser was charged with eight runs allowed after being lifted with none out in the fifth. 

   

  Rangers halt Braves' win streak behind three homers

  Andrew Knizner hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the fourth inning and the Texas Rangers went deep two more times to stop the Atlanta Braves' six-game winning streak with a 6-4 victory.

  Adolis Garcia added a two-run homer and Evan Carter had a solo shot as the defending World Champion Rangers overcame an early 3-0 deficit and avoided being swept in the three-game weekend series.

  Atlanta had gone ahead quickly on Marcell Ozuna's MLB-leading ninth home run of the season, a three-run blast off Texas starter Michael Lorenzen in the first inning.

  Lorenzen (2-0) kept the Braves off the scoreboard for the remainder of his six-inning stint, however, to help the Rangers rally in the fourth.

  Carter started the comeback with a lead-off homer off Darius Vines, who later surrendered singles to Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Smith before Knizner launched the first pitch he saw into the left field seats to give Texas a 4-3 lead.

  Garcia followed Carter's infield single in the eighth with a two-run shot off Tyler Matzek to extend the margin to 6-3.

  The Braves got a run back in their half of the eighth when Ronald Acuna Jr. singled and later came home on Austin Riley's base hit with none out. Relievers David Robertson and Tyler Yates retired the next three hitters, however, to end the threat with two runners on base.

  Yates then worked a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the season.

  Acuna finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored, while Vines was handed the loss after permitting four runs in five innings.

   

  Phillies finish sweep of White Sox to extend win streak to six games

  Aaron Nola struck out seven over eight strong innings to help the Philadelphia Phillies extend their winning streak to six games with an 8-2 rout of the lowly Chicago White Sox.

  Nola yielded just two runs on four hits to improve to 3-1 on the season, and the right-hander received plenty of offensive support as Philadelphia finished off a sweep of the three-game series.

  Kyle Schwarber homered and drove in two runs, Bryce Harper also knocked in two runs and Alec Bohm went 3 for 5 with an RBI double as the Phillies completed a successful 10-game home-stand in which they won eight times.

  Chicago, meanwhile, continued its worst start in franchise history as it dropped to 3-18, the lowest winning percentage in the majors this season.

  The White Sox did take a 2-0 lead, however, when Eloy Jimenez followed Robbie Grossman's one-out single in the top of the first inning with his first home run of 2024.

  Philadelphia quickly answered, as Chicago starter Nick Nastrini walked Schwarber and Trea Turner to start the bottom of the first before Harper delivered a single that scored Schwarber and sent Trea Turner to third.

  The Phillies then attempted a double steal in which Turner stole home and Harper advanced to second on a throwing error, and Harper later came home on Brandon Marsh's single for a 3-2 advantage.

  Nola surrendered just two more hits the rest of the way, and the Phillies increased their lead with three runs in the fourth on an RBI single from Turner, Harper's sacrifice fly and a run-scoring double from Bohm.

  Schwarber's lead-off homer in the sixth extended the margin to 7-2, and the slugger had a sacrifice fly in the seventh to bring home Philadelphia's final run.

  Nastrini was tagged for six runs - five earned - and walked five in just three-plus innings in his second major league start.

• MLB: Wheeler loses no-hit bid in 8th inning as Phillies beat White Sox

  Zack Wheeler took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Brandon Marsh hit a two-run homer as the surging Philadelphia Phillies defeated the lowly Chicago White Sox, 9-5 on Saturday.

  Wheeler held the White Sox hitless until Korey Lee’s one-out single in the eighth. The right-hander struck out eight, walked two and threw 75 of 106 pitches for strikes.

  A night earlier, Spencer Turnbull didn’t allow a hit until Gavin Sheets’ one-out single in the seventh.

  The Phillies won their fifth straight and moved five games over .500 in April for the first time since 2019.

  Marsh’s home run in the second off Michael Soroka gave Philadelphia a 3-0 lead and Trea Turner’s two-run double in the seventh made it 9-0.

  The White Sox scored their first runs of this series with five in the ninth but dropped to a major league-worst 3-17.

   

  Streaking Mets beat Dodgers

  Starling Marte belted a go-ahead, three-run homer and Pete Alonso made a stellar defensive play to lift the New York Mets to their sixth straight victory, 6-4 over the struggling Los Angeles Dodgers.

  Marte finished with four RBIs and Francisco Lindor drove in two runs as the Mets improved to 12-3 after an 0-5 start.

  The Dodgers went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base. They have lost three consecutive series for the first time since June, and three straight series at home for the first time since August 2018.

  Marte’s 432-foot shot off reliever Ryan Brasier in the sixth snapped a 2-2 tie.

  Los Angeles had the bases loaded in the sixth trailing 5-4 before Max Muncy grounded to Alonso, who fielded the ball near the edge of the outfield grass, sprinted in and dove to tag the bag for the third out.

  New York won despite issuing 10 walks, its most since Aug. 15. They last walked 10 in a win on May 13, 2014, in a 12-7 victory over the Yankees.

   

  D’Arnaud homers again in Braves’ win

  Charlie Morton combined with three relievers on a five-hitter and the Atlanta Braves defeated the Texas Rangers 5-2 for their sixth straight win.

  Morton gave up two runs and four hits with two walks in six innings. Joe Jimenez and A.J. Minter each pitched one inning and Raisel Iglesias worked the ninth for his sixth save in as many chances.

  D’Arnaud, who drove in six runs with three home runs on Friday, hit a two-run shot in the eighth off Austin Pruitt to close the scoring.

  Luis Guillorme had an RBI double and scored on Michael Harris’ single before Matt Olson’s sacrifice fly snapped a 2-2 tie in the second.