In the early morning of December 29, Beijing time, the 19th round of the English Premier League continued, and the north London duo Tottenham and Arsenal appeared successively. The result was a surprise when Richarlison scored twice for offside as Tottenham lost 4-2 to Brighton and set up City to secure a top-four finish. Rice sent a penalty in stoppage time, Arsenal lost 0-2 at home to the Hammers, and Liverpool sealed the halfway title.
Tottenham 2-4 Brighton
Before this game, Tottenham won 3 consecutive wins, and the team's morale was high, while Brighton won 1 win in 5 rounds, plus Kaoru Mikasa, Fati, Enciso and March, including the four main players were absent due to injury, the outside world was optimistic that Tottenham would win easily.
However, as soon as the game began, Brighton pressed Tottenham to bombard, and in less than 10 minutes, Welbeck had successive chances to open the scoring, and Vicario twice turned the tide. As the saying goes, there are only three things, in the 11th minute, Pedro put on a wonderful solo show, even past the four Tottenham defenders and then divided the ball, and the youngster Hinchelwood responded at the back point, and a burst shot went straight to the dead corner, but Tottenham still did not defend.
In the 23rd minute, Brighton's corner kick attack, Van Heik's header hit the post, Dunk's follow-up shot was blocked by Richarlison, Welbeck followed up and was ready to play again, was dragged down by Kulusevski, VAR prompted the referee to award a penalty, Pedro scored in one fell swoop, and Brighton led 2-0.
Tottenham picked up the tempo of the game and stormed around Brighton at one point, but Richarlison scored twice offside in a row and was never able to equalise. In the 64th minute, Tottenham's defence was once again leaky, and Estupinian hit a world wave 30 meters from the goal, conquering Vicario again, and Brighton had a three-goal lead.
In the 75th minute, Lo Celso brought down Evan Ferguson in the box and Pedro scored twice from the penalty spot to give Brighton a 4-0 lead. Although Son Heung-min then set up Baylis's goal, Ben Davies added another goal in the 86th minute to prevent Tottenham from losing 4-2.
With Tottenham Hotspur falling away, Manchester City sat on the big gift, and the Blues still sat in the top four with one point in hand.
Arsenal 0-2 West Ham United
Tottenham lost to Brighton & Hove Albion, and Arsenal, the north London rivals, were not doing any better. In the face of the Hammers, who beat Manchester United 2-0 in the last round, Arteta set up a 4-3-3 formation, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Martinelli fired three arrows, Mr. Rice faced his old club, and the Gunners were determined to win the three points.
Arsenal used skilful link-up to press down from the start, but neither Bukayo Saka nor Leandro Trossard were threatening. In the 13th minute, Emerson crossed from the left, Zinchenko and Gabriel made a mistake in clearing, Bowen reversed the triangle in front of the baseline, and Soucek pushed it into the net.
Did the ball go out of the line early?VAR didn't give a clear replay, but the referee signalled the goal to be valid and West Ham took the lead. With a one-goal lead, West Ham United were hit by injury, Paqueta was substituted without an injury, and Arsenal took the opportunity to fight back.
In the 42nd minute, Odegaard sent a wonderful pass from the edge of the penalty area, Saka cut in on the right and forced a shot from a tight angle, which bounced off the neutral post. Returning in the second half, Arsenal continued to intensify their attack, but a similar story played out again. In the 52nd minute, Rice fired a shot from outside the penalty area, and the ball grazed the crossbar and went out of bounds.
West Ham won a corner, Ward-Prowse crossed, Mavropanos flicked a header at the back of the net, and it hit the underside of the crossbar and into the net, making it 2-0!The gunners who were in a desperate situation then launched a tidal attack, but the thunder was heavy and the rain was small, and there was nothing to be done about Areola.
In the 95th minute, Rice slipped in the box and brought down Emerson, and West Ham were awarded a penalty, but Raya saved Benrahma's spot-kick but failed to reverse Arsenal's 2-0 defeat.
West Ham ended a seven-year streak of not beating Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and changed the tide of the title race, with Liverpool securing the halfway point for the title.