Arsenal back in title race with win over Bournemouth

London, February 7

Arsenal re-established themselves as serious contenders for their first Premier League title since 2004 with a comfortable victory at lowly Bournemouth on Sunday.

A first win in four games took them level on points with second-placed Tottenham Hotspur, their bitter local rivals who have a superior goal difference.

After more than five hours without a league goal, Arsenal scored two in little more than a minute midway through the first half by Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Arsene Wenger’s team are still five points behind leaders Leicester City but play at home to them next Sunday.

Leicester can emulate Forest, says O’Neill

Former Leicester City manager Martin O’Neill believes Saturday’s stunning victory over Manchester City could spur the Foxes to become the most unexpected English champions since his Nottingham Forest side of 38 years ago. Forest won the league by seven points in 1978 in their first season after promotion and went on to triumph in the European Cup in the following two years.

O’Neill, currently manager of Ireland, compared Leicester’s 3-1 away win over title rivals City to an equally stunning success just before Christmas 1977 when the Forest team he played in under Brian Clough won 4-0 at Manchester United.

“We scrambled up from the old Second Division in third position and up until Christmas time people were saying our bubble would burst,” he told BBC radio.

“It never did. The Old Trafford game was really something special and you can compare this great result for Leicester at the Etihad.”

Rated as 5,000-1 outsiders before the start of the season after avoiding relegation last May, Leicester now top the table by five points. “While the other teams are faltering, as well as being involved in other competitions, they just keep going on,” said O’Neill. — Reuters