Arsenal handed unlikely Premier League title boost despite VAR controversy

The Gunners avoid more Premier League pressure despite dropping points against Nottingham Forest as their title rivals suffer surprising defeats

Arsenal avoided further misery in the Premier League title dreams on Sunday as Aston Villa fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat to Everton at Villa Park.

The Gunners had the opportunity to go nine points clear at the top of the table on Saturday evening after Manchester City suffered defeat to Manchester United earlier in the day.

However, Mikel Arteta's men failed to score for the second straight Premier League game as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Nottingham Forest. The stalemate left Villa with the opportunity to cut the gap to just three points ahead of their game against Everton.

Fortunately for Arsenal, David Moyes' men pulled off one of the shocks of the weekend with a scrappy 1-0 win at Villa Park. Thierno Barry's goal on the hour handed the Toffees a huge three points and dented Villa's title hopes.

It could have been worse for Unai Emery's men, with Jake O'Brien having a goal disallowed in the first half for offside. Replays showed that Harrison Armstrong was offside as the cross came into the box, not O'Brien, which was enough for the flag to go up.

The Premier League Match Centre explained the decision, writing on X: "The referee’s call of no goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that Armstrong interfered with an opponent’s ability to play the ball from an offside position."

The defeat leaves Villa on 43 points, level with City, and seven points off the top. The Gunners will be counting their lucky stars after frustrations got the better of them at the City Ground.

Declan Rice was spotted visibly frustrated by more dropped points at Forest. After the game, the former West Ham captain was spotted muttering to himself after he applauded the travelling fans, saying: "F*cking sh*t, every f*cking time!"

"Every week is an opportunity, obviously; and we want to win every game," Arteta said. "If we would have done that, we would have been in a different position. But we made a step, a smaller one than the one that we wanted, but it's a step."

Asked if he would like to be further ahead in the title race, Arteta added: "If we win every game, yes. But unfortunately, we haven't won today, and the opportunity that we wanted to take, we haven't managed to do that."

Next up for Arsenal is Michael Carrick's Manchester United next Sunday. The Gunners will play over 24 hours after Man City, who host 20th-placed Wolves at 3pm on Saturday, while Villa travel to Newcastle.

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