Vincent Kompany said David Fofana offers Burnley “something different” after the on-loan Chelsea striker came off the bench to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw against Fulham.
Burnley looked destined to lose their 10th home game in 12 this season after Fulham took control with two goals in the space of five first-half minutes from Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Muniz – the Brazilian scoring his first Premier League goal.
But Fofana, making his home debut, came off the bench just after the hour and headed Burnley back into the game in the 71st minute before bundling in an equaliser in the first minute of stoppage time – two goals in 20 minutes matching his return from 17 appearances for Union Berlin during his last loan move.
“We can use any help we can get and David showed today that he gives us something different and we will need it,” said Kompany.
“I’ve not spent one second talking with him about what he did in the Premier League or with Chelsea. But he’s played in the Bundesliga, which is a very, very tough league and he’s a player that comes back with a wealth of experience.”
All three of Burnley’s January arrivals featured, with Lorenz Assignon making his debut from the start and fellow deadline-day arrival Maxime Esteve coming on at half-time to reinforce a defence too easily breached in the 17th and 21st minutes.
“I think that was a turning point for us, the performance of Fofana, the performance of Maxime Esteve, the performance of Assignon and the other players who came off the bench, that was a turning point for us,” Kompany said. “We have to have this week-in, week-out.”
Burnley, still seven points from safety, have been on the wrong end of late drama recently, but this result ended a run of 19 Premier League games in which conceding the first goal had spelled defeat for the Clarets.
“That’s what football is made for,” Kompany said. “In the first half we didn’t start badly at all but kind of out of nothing we’re 1-0 down and out of even less we’re 2-0 down and then, the first half, there was no real momentum in it, we didn’t really get going.
“But I saw a team at half-time that had character and passion and wanted to fight. The guys had a go at each other, five minutes later they’re in a huddle and they were ready to run their socks off and they got their rewards.”
While Burnley celebrated, Fulham rued what had looked like a golden opportunity to end a winless run away from home that stretches back to the opening day of the season, and a winless league run at Turf Moor which dates back to 1951.
“There is frustration of course in our dressing room at the way we lost two points this afternoon,” Marco Silva said.
“Until the moment they scored for 2-1 we are the best team in the pitch. We could have made it 3-0 instead of 2-1 but for their exceptional goalkeeper who kept them in the game.
“We lost two points because they punished the mistakes, it’s not the first time it has happened.
“You have to be stronger at this level. If you make mistakes of course you are punished. For 70 minutes we played so well but you cannot switch off and be naive like we were.”
Derby seal Championship return with Carlisle win as Cheltenham drop to League Two
Derby County sealed a Championship return by beating already-relegated Carlisle United 2-0 at Pride Park on the final day of the League One season.
Derby knew a single point would end their two-year stay in the third tier of English football, with Bolton Wanderers waiting to pounce if the Rams did suffer a shock defeat.
However, such a slip-up never looked likely as Max Bird's powerful strike from outside the area put them ahead within five minutes, and James Collins added a close-range second on the hour mark to make certain of promotion.
Paul Warne's team finished five points behind Portsmouth, who clinched the title earlier this month, and five clear of Bolton – who needed a late equaliser from Cameron Jerome to draw 3-3 with Peterborough.
Bolton will face Barnsley in the play-offs as the Tykes were not punished for their 1-1 draw with Northampton Town, defeats for Blackpool and Lincoln City denying them the chance to gatecrash the top six.
Fourth-placed Peterborough will face Oxford United in the other play-off semi-final, as the U's clinched a 2-1 win over Exeter City to claim fifth place in the final reckoning.
Three of the four relegation places had already been decided before Saturday's matches, with Carlisle, Port Vale, and Fleetwood Town on their way to League Two.
Cheltenham will join them after Nick Freeman struck a 90th-minute winner in their 2-1 loss at Stevenage. Darrell Clarke's side needed a win to save themselves and send Burton Albion down in their place, but they were hit with a late sucker punch as their three-year stay in League One came to an end.
Arteta wants to prove supercomputer wrong as Arsenal prepare for derby test
Mikel Arteta is looking to prove the Opta supercomputer wrong as Arsenal prepare for perhaps the biggest test of their Premier League title credentials, in Sunday's North London derby at Tottenham.
Arsenal began the weekend one point clear of Manchester City at the top of the table, though Pep Guardiola's men have a game in hand and have been in ominous form lately, winning their last four league matches.
Five wins for City will ensure they retain their crown, and according to the Opta supercomputer, the champions started the weekend with a 71.7% chance of topping the pile, compared to 26.6% for Arsenal and just 1.7% for Liverpool.
Arteta hopes to see Arsenal's figure boosted by a derby win, saying: "I don't know what to say, hopefully we can trick that computer and make it a bit higher!
"Maybe it needs to update the software, we need to help it or give it more tools. Hopefully we can change that!
"We are there. We have to look at ourselves and try to perform in the best possible way to win our matches and I can't wait to see what happens.
"We had a big win in the last London derby against Chelsea and now we have another big one. I'm sure if we're going to win the league, we're going to have to beat Spurs as well."
Tottenham, meanwhile, need points if they are to overhaul Aston Villa in the battle for Champions League qualification, with fifth place now extremely unlikely to be enough.
Ange Postecoglou, though, is more interested in seeing how Spurs measure up to a side they hope to challenge in the future.
"We understand the importance of the game but ultimately, it's still about us measuring ourselves against the teams we want to be challenging on a more consistent basis," Postecoglou said.
"It's a great opportunity to do that on Sunday."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tottenham – Son Heung-min
Son scored twice for Spurs in the reverse fixture against Arsenal in September – a 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium. In all competitions, only five players have scored more goals in the fixture's history than Son's seven.
The only player to score multiple goals in both north London derby matches in a league season was Arsenal's Ted Drake, who did so back in 1934-35.
Arsenal – Martin Odegaard
Odegaard has been involved in six goals in his last six away appearances in the Premier League, scoring three and assisting three.
The Gunners captain was in mesmerising form in Tuesday's 5-0 win over Chelsea, leading all players on the pitch for assists (two), chances created (eight), passes into the final third (34) and duels won (eight). A repeat performance would be huge for the visitors' title hopes.
MATCH PREDICTION – ARSENAL WIN
Tottenham have won just one of their last six Premier League games against Arsenal (one draw, four defeats), with their four losses in this span as many as they had suffered in their previous 16 against the Gunners (six wins, six draws).
They also lost this exact fixture 2-0 last season, meaning the Gunners could win on back-to-back league trips to Tottenham for the first time since enjoying a run of three victories there between 1987 and 1988.
Arteta's men know there is no margin for error with the title race in City's hands.
Even a draw could prove fatal to their hopes – at the end of the 2015-16 season, the North London derby was the most drawn fixture in Premier League history, with 20 of 48 meetings finishing level (42 per cent). Since then, only four matches between these rivals have seen the points shared (27 per cent).
Arsenal have kept six straight clean sheets on their travels in the Premier League, with only two teams ever keeping seven in a row – Chelsea from September to December 2008 and Manchester United from November to February in 2008-09. The Gunners should have enough to grind out a huge win.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Tottenham – 31%
Arsenal – 41.3%
Draw – 27.7%
West Ham 2-2 Liverpool: Antonio header damages Reds' dwindling title chances
Liverpool suffered another blow to their dwindling Premier League title hopes as Michail Antonio's late header snatched a 2-2 draw for West Ham at London Stadium.
Jurgen Klopp's side disappointed in Wednesday's 2-0 defeat against Everton, with Jarrod Bowen's goal and assist inflicting further pain for the Reds on Saturday.
Liverpool responded well to Bowen's first-half opener, edging ahead through Alphonse Areola's own goal after Andy Robertson's 48th-minute leveller, only for Bowen to tee up Antonio's headed equaliser 13 minutes from time.
This draw left Liverpool two points behind leaders Arsenal ahead of the Gunners’ Sunday meeting with Tottenham and one behind Manchester City – who have two games in hand on the Reds – while West Ham remain eighth.
A tepid opening befitted two sides struggling for form as both failed to carve out any gilt-edged opportunities.
Liverpool wanted a 27th-minute penalty for Angelo Ogbonna's tackle on Cody Gakpo and, though an offside call against Luis Diaz silenced those appeals, that passage livened the game up.
Harvey Elliott's curling attempt was held by Areola after Vladimir Coufal went close at the other end, before Diaz blasted a low strike against the West Ham goalkeeper's right-hand post.
Bowen saw a deflected drive parried behind by Alisson but the West Ham forward headed Mohammed Kudus' left-wing delivery into the far corner from the resulting set-piece two minutes before the break.
Ryan Gravenberch flashed a powerful half-volley over immediately after the interval – and West Ham did not heed that warning sign.
Diaz cut inside from the left to find Robertson before a slight deflection off Lucas Paqueta saw Areola caught off-guard as the left-back found the bottom-left corner via the post.
Gravenberch arrowed narrowly wide before one-way traffic finally paid dividends midway through the second half when Gakpo's miscued strike from Trent Alexander-Arnold's corner forced Areola to turn into his own net after a deflection off Tomas Soucek.
Alisson kept his side ahead with a remarkable stretching stop to thwart Emerson's volley, yet the Liverpool goalkeeper was powerless when Antonio headed into the top-right corner from Bowen's right-wing centre.
Elliott almost snatched all three points in the 89th minute but his dipping effort found the top of the crossbar rather than the right-hand corner from long range.
Reds falter once again
Under Klopp, Liverpool have only won more Premier League games against Crystal Palace (13) than West Ham (12).
Yet the visiting Reds faltered once more as what appeared to be a promising season continues to unravel in disappointing fashion for Klopp's final campaign.
Having threatened an unlikely quadruple at the start of March, Liverpool now require a minor miracle – and slip-ups from Man City and Arsenal – to muster a slight shot at the title.
Bowen on target but West Ham struggle at home
Bowen had already found the net in the Premier League and EFL Cup against Liverpool this season and became just the second West Ham player to score in three different games with the Reds in a single campaign – after Geoff Hurst in 1964-65.
His well-taken headed opener eased the nervous home crowd, yet this draw left West Ham with just one win from their last nine Premier League home games.
That concerning home form may be what costs David Moyes’ side a higher finish. The Hammers trail seventh-placed Newcastle United by a point, despite the Magpies playing two games fewer.
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