Danny Welbeck threw the Premier League title race wide open when he scored a dramatic winner with only seconds left as Arsenal beat leaders Leicester City.
The Foxes looked set to hold out for a vital draw as a thrilling game went into injury time, despite being reduced to 10 men after Danny Simpson was sent off for a second yellow card early in the second half.
This was until Welbeck, playing his first competitive game since April last year, glanced Mesut Ozil’s free-kick past the magnificent Kasper Schmeichel to spark wild celebrations at Emirates Stadium as Leicester lost in the league for just the third time this season.
Jamie Vardy gave the Foxes the lead with a hotly-disputed penalty on the stroke of half-time after he tumbled over Nacho Monreal’s outstretched leg.
Substitute Theo Walcott then set up a frantic final 20 minutes with a side-foot finish from Olivier Giroud’s superb knockdown.
Leicester still lead the table – but Arsenal’s win leaves them only two points clear.
Speaking after the game, Arsene Wenger said:
“The effort, energy, intensity was all good. Leicester defended very well but we had bad luck to be 1-0 down at half-time. We were relentless after that – we should have scored more goals.”
“It was a pivotal moment today because the mathematics meant it could be eight points or it could be two points. That is a great change.”
“There’s a long way to go, we play a lot of big teams. But we had a bad spell where we couldn’t win for four games and have now won two on the bounce. We have come out of that bad spell and still have a good chance.”
Meanwhile, Leicester’s boss, Claudio Ranieri, insisted his team will recover in the next game and will not be daunted by this defeat.
“We are still top of the table, got two points more – we must carry on and smile. We lost to our opponents – we must say well done,” he said.