Arsenal tightened their grip on the Premier League title race as Manchester City fluffed their lines to draw 1-1 with managerless Chelsea.
Declan Rice struck twice in the Gunners 3-2 win at Bournemouth to open up a six-point lead at the top of the table.
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At the other end of the table West Ham’s chance of survival suffered a body blow in a 3-0 defeat to a Wolves side that had not won in their opening 19 games of the season.
AFP Sports looks at three talking points from the weekend action:
World class Rice moves Arsenal closer
Rice had been a major injury doubt for Saturday’s trip to England’s south coast after missing Arsenal’s midweek demolition of Aston Villa with knee swelling.
The England international recovered just in time to take his place in the starting line-up and made his mark by scoring twice in a Premier League game for the first time.
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Mikel Arteta hailed the 26-year-old as one of the world’s best midfielders for his array of attributes.
“He’s constantly adding things to his role in the team,” said the Spaniard.
“I don’t see where he can stop because he can still improve in a lot of areas and he wants to improve. He’s such a pivotal player for us.”
After finishing second for the last three seasons, Arteta’s men are closing in on finally ending a 22-year wait to win the title.
City charge runs out of gas
City had won eight games in a row prior to drawing a blank in a 0-0 draw at Sunderland on January 1.
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But their hunt of Arsenal has come off the rails in four damaging days for Pep Guardiola’s men in more ways than one.
On top of four dropped points, centre-backs Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias limped off in the second half against Chelsea to leave Guardiola with threadbare options at the back.
“Of course I have concerns. Have you seen the bench today? It’s three players for the academy and now we will have more,” said Guardiola.
“We don’t have players. That is the truth.”
During his trophy-littered decade in charge, Guardiola has made a habit of constantly rotating his City sides to keep his players as fresh as possible.
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That has changed this season. His consistency of selection helped bring City back into title contention after losing two of their first three games of the campaign.
But they appear to be running out of gas in the midst of English football’s gruelling winter schedule.
City have played just two of their nine games in January with trips to Tottenham and Liverpool to follow in early February.
West Ham in crisis
Nuno Espirito Santo is already in danger of becoming the latest West Ham manager to be sacked after a miserable collapse against his former club.
The Hammers’ relegation fears deepened as first-half goals from Jhon Arias, Hwang Hee-chan and Mateus Mane doubled Wolves’ points tally for the season.
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Nuno described the result, which left West Ham four points adrift of safety in 18th place in the Premier League, as the worst of his career.
“I apologise to the fans. It was embarrassing,” said Nuno, who has already been sacked by Nottingham Forest this season.
“I don’t recall one day that I felt so bad in a football pitch.”
Appointed in September after the departure of his short-lived predecessor Graham Potter, Nuno knows speculation is mounting that he will not avoid the axe.
“It’s not about my future, it’s about how can we get out of this situation, how can we improve and get the results that make us climb the table,” he added.
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