Arsenal completed a recent upturn in form by beating Manchester United at home before a Tottenham draw later in the day handed them firm control of the fourth Champions League place in the Premier League table.
Goals from Nuno Tavares, Bukayo Saka, and Granit Xhaka handed the home side a 3-1 win with a solitary strike from a returning Cristiano Ronaldo United’s only goal in the game.
It was a second high-profile loss for the red devils after being mauled 4-0 by Liverpool earlier in the week.
The Londoners got off to a perfect start with Tavares putting the home side in front after just three minutes on the clock courtesy of some terrible defending from United once again.
With Harry Maguire on the bench, Varane failed to clear a cross that fell in Saka’s path whose curling effort was saved by De Gea only for Tavares to knock the ball into an empty net.
Saka scored a second successive penalty for Arsenal after a foul on the winger in the build-up to a strike by Eddie Nketiah that went in but was ruled out as offside by the video assistant referee.
Cristiano Ronaldo, returning for a personal tragedy, swept in Nemanja Matic’s cross for his 100th Premier League goal to cut the lead in half.
Another improved display in the second half followed and Bruno Fernandes could have restored parity in the contest from the penalty spot but the Portuguese managed to hit the post to hand Arsenal a lifeline.
Xhaka sealed all three points for his side when he thundered in an effort past a diving De Gea.
The win lifted Arsenal to fourth place on 60 points, three ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who stumbled against Brentford later in the day to hand Arsenal firm control of the last Champions League spot.
After losing to Brighton the previous matchday, Tottenham drew 0-0 at Brentford to fall further behind Arsenal with only a few games to go.
Brentford dominated the first half and was unlucky not to lead at the break after Ivan Toney struck the bar with a header early on.
Spurs failed to find their rhythm before the break with Harry Kane’s lobbed effort the closest they came to a goal.
Christian Eriksen saw his deflected shot go wide after the hour mark before Brentford went close again after 66 minutes but Kane managed to clear Pontus Jansson’s header off the line.
Both teams had chances to win the game in stoppage-time but Toney’s header struck the woodwork again before Kane’s bicycle kick went just wide.
