Ozil leads Arsenal into top four

London, December 16 

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A blistering first-half volley by Mesut Ozil gave Arsenal a 1-0 home win over Newcastle United on Saturday and lifted them into the Premier League’s top four while it also piled more misery on the struggling Magpies.

The result lifted Arsenal to fourth place on 33 points from 18 games, one ahead of surprise package Burnley, with Newcastle, on 15 points, plunging into a relegation scrap.

Germany midfielder Ozil unleashed an unstoppable shot past visiting goalkeeper Rob Elliot in the 23rd minute as Arsenal celebrated their 10th successive top-flight win over Newcastle, who have now taken one point from their last nine league games.

Alexis Sanchez had a shot blocked by a visiting defender and following an aerial duel, the ball fell kindly to Ozil who showed a touch of class to crash his effort into the top corner.

Chelsea consolidated third place in the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, thanks to a Marcos Alonso goal.

Alonso scored the only goal of the game by curling a long-range free kick into the bottom corner in the third minute of first-half injury time. Chelsea dominated the match for long periods and would have won by a greater margin had Forster not made a string of impressive saves.

Chelsea have moved on to 38 points, level with second-placed Manchester United, who visit West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.

Palace beat Leicester 

Christian Benteke put a difficult week behind him to score his first goal of the season as Crystal Palace won 3-0 at Leicester City to climb out of the bottom three.

Wilfried Zaha and Bakary Sako were also on target as Palace ended an eight-month wait for an away league victory. A week after being castigated for ignoring team orders to take, and miss, a stoppage-time penalty in a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth, Benteke made amends to put Palace in front with a glancing header. It was Palace’s first away goal of the season.

Palace are 14th, while Leicester are 8th. — Reuters