Arsenal secured a narrow win against fellow London club, Watford, to go 5th in the English Premier League log
By Kehinde Okeowo
Arsenal, playing at the Emirate, secured a narrow win over hard-fighting Watford to go 5th in the English Premier League.
Watford were without Nigerian defender, William Troost-Ekong, who was axed and replaced by Cameroonian defender Nicolas Nkoulou, after a series of poor performances.
Arsenal thought they had gone ahead in the 7th minute when Bukayo Saka profited from a poor touch from his captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but the goal was ruled offside by VAR.
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The Gunners also had another opportunity to go ahead in the 36th minute, when Danny Rose, caused a penalty via a dangerous play against Alexandre Lacazette, but Ben Foster saved the resultant penalty kick from Aubameyang.
Arsenal had the ball in their control but couldn’t go into the break with a lead. Kelvin Friend blew for halftime after adding two extra minutes.
The home side finally broke the duck in the 56th minute when Emile Smith Rowe pounced on a loose ball at the edge of Watford’s penalty box to make it 1-0 to Arsenal.
Aubameyang thought he had doubled the Gunners’ advantage when he scored from a shot from Martin Oddegard only to have the goal ruled offside.
Watford rarely threatened throughout the match, and Juraj Kucka was given the marching orders after picking up the second yellow card to leave the visitors a man short in the 89th minute.
Arsenal held on to win the match 1-0 and move 5th on the table, level on points with West Ham who will play Liverpool later.