Arsenal wins derby; Man U, Leicester strengthen top-4 bids

London, Mar 15 (AP): It says a lot about Arsenal’s struggles that not even a first north London derby win in more than two years does much for its Premier League targets. Even after coming from behind to beat Tottenham 2-1, Arsenal is in 10th place and 10 points from the top four. The more significant results on Sunday in the Champions League chase were victories for Manchester United and Leicester, which both pulled further clear.
United, which is 14 points behind leader Manchester City in second, beat fifth-place West Ham 1-0. Leicester remains a point behind United after routing Sheffield United 5-0. Chelsea is now five points further back in fourth after only managing a draw on Saturday. Alexandre Lacazette captained Arsenal with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the starting lineup following a breach of pre-match protocols.
Emile Smith Rowe was unfortunate not to open the scoring for Arsenal when his shot came back off the crossbar with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris beaten. And Tottenham substitute Erik Lamela, on for the injured Son Heung-min, took full advantage with an audacious rabona shot from Lucas Moura’s layoff 12 minutes before the break.