ARSENAL RUN RIOT OVER PALACE
▶ Sanchez left out of squad; United beat Burnley away
Arsenal showed there was plenty of life after Alexis Sanchez as they beat Crystal Palace 4-1 in the Premier League without the Manchester United-bound Chilean forward.
With Sanchez moving slowly but surely towards a £35 million (Dh175m) transfer to Premier League rivals United, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger left him out of his matchday squad.
Any fears Arsenal would struggle up front without Sanchez proved groundless as they surged into a 4-0 lead inside 22 minutes at Emirates Stadium.
It took Arsenal just six minutes to open the scoring, an unmarked Nacho Monreal heading in from a corner.
Things did not get any better for a Palace side managed by former England manager Roy Hodgson.
Monreal turned provider for Alex Iwobi before Laurent Koscielny scored Arsenal’s third goal.
Palace’s defence gave way again when a sweeping move involving Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere ended with the onrushing Alexandre Lacazette firing home from 12 yards.
A German magazine reported that Arsenal had been rebuffed in their intial approach to sign Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as a replacement for Sanchez.
Kicker said that the Bundesliga club rejected a €50 million (Dh224m) bid from Arsenal for Gabon striker Aubameyang, who has been dropped for the last two games by Dortmund.
On the subject of Aubameyang, Wenger said in a postmatch interview: “Aubameyang no, nothing is happening.
“He can be left out of the Dortmund team for different reasons, certainly not for transfer reasons at the moment.
“Sanchez will only happen if [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan [the Manchester United winger] comes here, that will be decided in the next 48 hours. It is a possibility.”
Luka Milivojevic’s volley 12 minutes from time denied Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech a clean sheet.
Elsewhere, Manchester United moved to within nine points of runaway league leaders Manchester City with a 1-0 win at Burnley.
A game where United midfielder Mkhitaryan, the proposed makeweight in the Sanchez deal, was left out by Jose Mourinho, was goalless until the 54th minute when Anthony Martial scored with a shot that went in off the crossbar.
“It was very hard, we played against a brave team, a team that plays with their strength and a team that knows how to get points – that’s why season after season they are in a comfortable position,” winning manager Jose Mourinho said.
“We were not brilliant, but we were very good.
“I prefer to win 4-0 and to sit on the bench and enjoy the game but it is good to see the way the team fought for it. I think the referee team was really good.”
On Alexis Sanchez potentially joining the club, the Portuguese said: “For good or for bad, something will happen soon.”
Asked if he is confident he will join Manchester United, Mourinho replied: “Yes, I am.”
Yesterday’s early match saw Chelsea win 4-0 away to Brighton & Hove Albion as the reigning Premier League champions leapfrogged Liverpool into third place, 48 hours before the Reds play Swansea City.
Chelsea’s first win of 2018 saw Eden Hazard score twice, his opener and a goal from Willian making it 2-0 inside six minutes. Second-half goals from Hazard and Victor Moses sealed victory.
On a day when all Premier League fixtures were preceded by a minute’s applause in memory of the former West Bromwich Albion and England forward Cyrille Regis, a trailblazer for black players who died age 59 last week, the Baggies drew 1-1 with Everton.
Jay Rodriguez’s strike put West Brom 1-0 up in the seventh minute but Theo Walcott, on his Everton debut following his midweek move from Arsenal, headed into the path of fellow substitute Oumar Niasse, who volleyed in a 70th-minute equaliser.
But the sight of Everton midfielder James McCarthy going off with a broken leg cast a shadow over Everton manager Sam Allardyce’s 1,000th game as a manager.
Stoke City gave new manager Paul Lambert victory in his first game in charge as they climbed out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win at home to Huddersfield Town.
Joe Allen opened the scoring in the 53rd minute before Lambert, who replaced Mark Hughes, saw the Potters double their lead through Mame Biram Diouf.
Leicester City also beat Watford 2-0, Jamie Vardy scoring from the penalty spot six minutes before the break after the England striker was brought down in the box.
The score stayed at 1-0 until Riyad Mahrez put the result beyond doubt in second-half stoppage time.
West Ham United and Bournemouth shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium.