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The Gunners at the foot of the podium

Arsenal took advantage of draws by neighbors Chelsea and Tottenham on Saturday to improve their chances in the Champions League race, helped by a quickly reduced Leeds to ten.

With 66 points, the Gunners, 4th, are only one unit behind the Blues, 3rd, and are above all four ahead of the Spurs, 5th.

They will go to their historic rivals in north London on Thursday and would validate, in the event of victory, their ticket for the C1.

To overcome the Peacocks, they did not even have to force their talent much.

The opener came from a monumental blunder by French goalkeeper Illan Meslier, too slow to clear on his line and who was blocked by Eddy Nketiah (1-0, 5th).

Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah (g) has scored against Leeds on May 8, 2022 in London Glyn KIRK AFP

Two minutes later, the Leeds defense left Gabriel Martinelli too alone along the touchline.

The Brazilian overflowed and centered back for Nketiah who doubled the lead (2-0, 10th).

To make matters worse, full-back Luke Ayling was guilty of an unnecessarily violent tackle, both feet forward on Martinelli in the 27th minute, and was invited by the referee to join the locker room, leaving his teammates to ten.

In the second half, a guilty release from the Gunners allowed Diego Llorente to reduce the score (2-1, 66th).

But the situation of Leeds, 18th with 34 points and a catastrophic goal difference (-35) is very precarious, especially since their next opponent is Chelsea, before the reception of Brighton and a trip to Brentford.

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Everton take big step towards retention

By going to win (2-1) at Leicester, a little demobilized after their elimination in the semi-finals of the Europa League Conference on Thursday, Everton carried out an excellent operation in the race to maintain.

These three points, which bring his total to 35, allow him to leave the place of 18th and first relegation to Leeds and also to overtake Burnley (17th), these two teams having only 34 units on the clock.

Everton's Ukrainian defender Vitaliy Mykolenko (l) scores on Leicester's pitch on May 8, 2022 Geoff Caddick AFP

Everton are also a late game and will travel to Watford on Wednesday, 19th and already sentenced to relegation.

A win would greatly increase Frank Lampard's men's chances of advancing further into the top flight next season.

This success was achieved thanks to a magnificent volley from the Ukrainian Vitaliy Mykolenko (1-0, 6th) and above all a header from Mason Holgate, on a ball pushed back by Kasper Schmeichel (2-1, 30th), while Patson Daka had equalized in the 11th for the Foxes.

© 2022 AFP