Mikel Arteta’s side are now seven points off the top of the Premier League table after seeing out a win at home on Wednesday

Arsenal took advantage of Premier League leaders Liverpool dropping points with a 2-0 win at home to Manchester United on Wednesday. Arne Slot’s Reds were held to a dramatic 3-3 draw by Newcastle earlier in the evening, allowing their rivals to make up ground in the title race.

The Gunners had the ball in the net inside four minutes when a poor ball from the back by Andre Onana was intercepted by Oleksandr Zinchenko, whose pass was bounced back by Kai Havertz to Gabriel Martinelli to finish, but an offside flag went up against the German and the goal was chalked off. The hosts also should have had the lead with their first corner of the night after Declan Rice’s delivery picked out Thomas Partey at the near post, but the ball bounced off his shoulder and behind.

United’s first opportunity came when Mason Mount’s second delivery from a quick free-kick was swiped back into the box by Harry Maguire. The defender’s low delivery was cleared by Jakub Kiwior, but only as far as Diogo Dalot, who flashed a shot narrowly past the far post.

Mikel Arteta’s side upped the ante after the break in search of an opening goal, and they got their reward when Rice’s teasing corner was glanced up and in by Jurrien Timber on 54 minutes – his first in Arsenal colours since his 2023 move from Ajax. Another in-swinger was cleared off the line by Ugarte moments later when Joshua Zirkzee diverted the ball towards his own net, while David Raya needed to be at full stretch to claw away a Matthijs de Ligt header down the other end.

To the surprise of nobody, Arsenal found their second goal from a corner once more. Bukayo Saka’s delivery travelled all the way to the back post for Partey to head back across the six-yard box, and the ball bobbled in off the back of William Saliba.

A third ought to have followed when Mikel Merino found himself completely unmarked for Saka’s next cross, only for his header to drop wide.

Goal

Ruud van Nistelrooy enjoyed a dream start to his reign as Leicester manager after a 3-1 win over West Ham, whose boss Julen Lopetugui is under increasing pressure.

Van Nistelrooy has replaced Steve Cooper at the King Power Stadium and saw Jamie Vardy open the scoring after just 98 seconds.

Bilal El Khannouss and Patson Daka added goals after the break to ensure the Dutchman started with three points in style.

His task is to keep the Foxes in the Premier League this season and after ending a five-game winless run they moved up to 15th, four points clear of the relegation zone.

West Ham’s hierarchy will have seen what impact a managerial change can have as the jury remains out on Lopetegui, with away fans making their feelings clear by chanting “You’re getting sacked in the morning”.

Niclas Fullkrug scored a consolation goal at the death but it counted for nothing and forthcoming games against Wolves, Bournemouth, Brighton and Southampton could determine the Spaniard’s future.

When Van Nistelrooy went to bed last night, even he would not have dreamt of his side starting as well as they did as they went ahead with less than two minutes on the clock.

One of the Dutchman’s first conversations following his appointment was to take Vardy to task for breaking his record for scoring in the most consecutive Premier League games nine years ago.

And the veteran striker rolled back to the years as, living on the shoulder of the West Ham defence, he raced clear from El Khannouss’ through-ball and slotted into the corner.

The linesman’s flag immediately went up but a lengthy VAR review ruled Vardy had timed his run perfectly and the goal stood.

Vardy could have added a second from a similar move but this time Lukasz Fabianski denied him.

The Dutchman quickly learned about the frailties of his side as West Ham created a raft of chances in search of an equaliser.

Jarrod Bowen forced Mads Hermansen into a stretching save when he cut in from the right before Ings’ header crashed into the post and Max Kilman slipped at the crucial point from the rebound.

Bowen, a constant threat, sent a ball across face of goal which evaded everyone before the England international was denied by a reflex save from the busy Hermansen.

The Danish goalkeeper needed to be alert to tip over Mohammed Kudus’ deflected effort early in the second half before he was saved by the referee’s whistle after after his attempted punch went into his own goal, Tomas Soucek the man penalised.

Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen punches into his own goal while being challenged by Tomas Soucek, with the goal disallowed

Leicester remained a threat on the counter-attack and that is how they doubled their lead just after the hour.

Kasey McAteer was set clear down the left and his ball inside was perfect for El Khannouss to find the bottom corner from 15 yards.

It was almost three as Fabianski produced an acrobatic save from Wilfred Ndidi’s header before Leicester needed a heroic piece of defending to keep their 2-0 lead intact.

Having picked up their first Premier League win under Ruben Amorim, Manchester United‘s focus is starting to turn towards the January transfer window.

Amorim’s men thumped Everton on Sunday to move into the top-half of the Premier League table. The Portuguese coach will be handed the chance to bring in reinforcements in just under a month’s time.

United are expected to be one of the busier top-flight sides in the transfer market, given their awful season and Amorim’s recent appointment. Despite scoring four goals against the Toffees, a striker may well be high up Amorim’s list of targets.

Amorim’s Amad demand
Amad starred as United thumped Everton on Sunday, but club chiefs have a decision to make with his contract expiring in the summer. Boss Amorim has firmly stated his position, with the winger set to be a key part of his plans.

“He is really big in talent, but small in size. He did a great job but he also has to improve. He was really good again. You could feel it in the end of the game he was really, really tired,” Amorim said.

“So we have to manage that and increase his physical ability. I’d like to take credit for [Amad’s pressing], but that’s him. He’s like that. He’s smart. He’s explosive.”

A new striker appears to be high on Amorim’s list of targets for the January transfer window. Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee are the current senior forwards on the books at Old Trafford.

But it appears Amorim may be ready to cut ties with Zirkzee, with Ruleta Sport reporting United are ‘on the trail’ of Victor Osimhen. It is said they have offered the Dutchman and a fee to Napoli in exchange for Osimhen.

Sporting Lisbon star Viktor Gyokeres is thought to be Amorim’s top target, though the manager believes they may demand too much. As a result he is ‘testing the waters’ for Osimhen, with Zirkzee thought to not be a good fit for Amorim’s style of play.

Shaw hint dropped
United boss Amorim has admitted that Luke Shaw wants more game-time. The defender has spent much of the season sidelined with calf and knee injuries, making only three appearances in total.

All of those have come from the bench, including in the win over Everton. And Amorim has revealed that with the January window on the horizon, Shaw is keen to have a bigger role.

The United boss said: “Luke Shaw wants to play more, but we have to control it; we have to rotate the team. In the future, we will have a different system; you can see more of a starting XI.”