Arsenal close gap on leaders Liverpool, Marmoush treble lifts Man City

Arsenal ignored their injury woes to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool as Mikel Merino inspired a 2-0 win against Leicester, while Omar Marmoush’s hat-trick fired Manchester City’s 4-0 rout of top four rivals Newcastle on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta’s side were in danger of wasting a chance to put pressure on Liverpool in the title race as they laboured to make the breakthrough at the King Power Stadium.

With his attacking options limited by a host of injuries, Arteta sent on Spain midfielder Merino to act as a makeshift striker in the closing stages.

It proved an inspired move as Merino netted twice in the last nine minutes to extend Arsenal’s unbeaten run in the league to 15 games.

In the 81st minute, Ethan Nwaneri swung a pin-point cross into the Leicester area and Merino found space to thump his header past Mads Hermansen from six yards.

Seven minutes later, Leandro Trossard whipped a cross into the six-yard box and Merino’s well-timed run eluded the Leicester defence as he slotted home to move second-placed Arsenal within four points of Liverpool.

With Kai Havertz ruled out for the season after suffering a hamstring injury blocking a shot during Arsenal’s recent training trip to Dubai, Arteta was left with a threadbare attack.

Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were already sidelined by injuries.

Having lost 2-0 at Newcastle in the League Cup semi-final second leg before an extended break due to their early FA Cup exit, the Gunners returned to action with a vital victory.

“The first half, we struggled to get momentum because we did a lot of simple things wrong, but the second half was very different,” Arteta said.

“Mikel obviously made a huge impact to score the two goals.”

Liverpool can increase the