Arsenal continued to defy their doubters in the race for the Premier League title, taking full advantage of Manchester City’s slipup against Brentford to beat Wolves at Molineux and add a five-point gap between themselves and Pep Guardiola’s chasing pack.
Martin Odegaard scored both goals during the 2-0 in the second half as the well-organized Wolverhampton side faltered in the second stanza.
After a dull first half, Arsenal took the lead in the 54th minute when substitute Fabio Vieira chipped a pass past Jose Sa leaving Odegaard with a simple job of tapping the ball in.
The Norweigan then made sure of the points in the 75th minute when Gabriel Martinelli’s effort fell into his path after being saved by Sa and the Gunners’ captain easily put away the rebound for his sixth Premier League goal of the season.
The win over the Wolves keeps Arsenal firmly on track for their first league title since the undefeated Invincibles season of 2003-04 while they will also be top of the table on Christmas Day for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
Ten of the last 13 teams to be top at Christmas have gone on to win the title.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s barren run under Graham Potter continued as they were beaten 1-0 by a rapidly rising Newcastle United side.
Joe Willock scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute as Eddie Howe’s men moved to 3rd on the league table with Chelsea slipping to 8th.
Liverpool defeated Southampton 3-1, Leicester City showed life with a 2-0 win over West Ham, Bournemouth heaped more misery on Everton with a 3-0 win, Nottingham Forest got a much-needed 1-0 win over Crystal Palace while Tottenham survived a rollercoaster match against Leeds United 4-3.
Manchester City had lost 2-1 to Brentford earlier in the day.
