Arsenal keep faint hopes alive after battling win over Chelsea

Stand-in striker Mikel Merino secures much-needed victory after four games

Arsenal's Mikel Merino greets supporters at the end of the Premier League win over Chelsea at the Emirates stadium. AP

Arsenal defeated London rivals Chelsea for their first win in four Premier League games as a headed goal by stand-in striker Mikel Merino boosted their faint hopes of catching up with runaway leaders Liverpool.

Merino scored in the 20th minute when he stooped to flick his looping header over Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal after a Martin Odegaard corner.

The 1-0 win left second-placed Arsenal 12 points behind Liverpool who face Newcastle United in the League Cup final later on Sunday.

Both the top two teams have played 29 games with a further nine rounds of fixtures to go. Chelsea are fourth, one point ahead of Manchester City and five behind third-placed Nottingham Forest.

"It was a big game and we wanted to win against a top team," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told the BBC.

"We did enough to deserve to win the game. Now we have the international break so let's take a chance to breathe and bring some players back hopefully."

Chelsea's challenge for a place in next season's Champions League faltered on Sunday.

The Blues badly missed Cole Palmer who was absent due to illness as they meekly surrendered to a damaging defeat for their hopes of a top-four finish.

Chelsea remain in fourth for now but have five sides from Manchester City in fifth to Aston Villa in ninth within four points of Enzo Maresca's team.

Arsenal have struggled badly for goals since the loss of Kai Havertz to a season-ending injury, forcing midfielder Merino into a makeshift centre-forward role.

The Spanish international proved the match winner from a corner as he looped a header from Odegaard's delivery inside the far post on 20 minutes.

Chelsea barely threatened but were nearly gifted a route back into the game when David Raya fumbled Marc Cucurella's shot and the ball trickled wide.

At the other end, Chelsea's Sanchez made a brilliant stop to prevent Merino doubling Arsenal's lead with the best effort of the second half.

But the game petered out with little goalmouth action as a limp performance will do little to quieten the critics of Maresca's style of play among the Chelsea support.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Maresca said: "I think we were in the game until the end. There was not a big difference in the two games between us. Given the injuries, we fought until the end. After the international break, we can have more players back like Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke for the final sprint."

Fulham's players celebrate their win over Tottenham Hotspur at Craven Cottage. AFP

Fulham overpower Spurs

Substitutes Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon struck late to give Fulham a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur as the Cottagers cut the gap on their rivals for European football next season.

Fulham were far superior in the first half but failed to capitalise as Timothy Castagne wasted their clearest opening when he scuffed a tame effort straight at Guglielmo Vicario.

Spurs, with seven changes from Thursday's 3-1 win over AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League, absorbed the pressure and defended well though they offered little going forward.

But Ange Postecoglou's double substitution at halftime, bringing on Son Heung-min and Lucas Bergvall, had the visitors much improved after the break.

Dominic Solanke twice headed wide before he spurned Spurs' best chance, slicing over from close range after substitute James Maddison chested a parried shot into his path.

Those Spurs opportunities seemed to revive Fulham and, shortly after Willian shot just wide, Muniz produced a superb first-time finish 12 minutes from time.

Spurs' Wilson Odobert was dispossessed almost immediately after coming on and Antonee Robinson's cross bounced around the penalty box before Muniz swept home his fifth league goal from the bench this season.

Fulham academy product Sessegnon, who moved to Spurs in 2019 before returning last July, scored the second goal of his second spell at Fulham to secure the victory in the 88th minute, prompting gleeful chants of "he's one of our own".

Fulham's win puts them eighth, with 45 points from 29 games – three points behind City in fifth, which could be good enough to qualify for next season's Champions League.