Ozil being congratulated by team mates

Arsenal are now standing atop the Barclays Premier League, after beating AFC Bournemouth 2-0 at the Emirates Monday evening.

Gabriel Paulista  and Mesut Ozil scored the vital goals at the 27th and 63rd minute, with Arsenal’s  Theo Walcott squandering several chances to increase the scoreline upfront.

It was a perfect response to the Gunners dismal performance on Boxing Day at Southhampton, when they were humiliated 0-4.

Paulista overjoyed after nodding Arsenal ahead in the 27th minute

Arsenal now have 39 points, one more than Leicester, who will be hosting Manchester City on Tuesday, to determine which team will go into the New Year atop the Barclays Premier League leaderboard.

City have 35 points and will close up on Arsenal and Leicester if they can snatch victory away.

Tottenham are now third  on the table,  having also amassed 35 points like City, by snatching a vital three points at Watford in an earlier match today. Spurs beat Watford 2-1, with the winning goal scored by Heung-Min Son in the 89th minute, after  Odion Ighalo in the 41st minute had cancelled Spurs opener by Erik Lamela in the 17th minute. Watford however played with  10 men after Nathan Ade was red-carded in the 63rd minute for fouling Lamela.

There was another  reason for Arsenal to celebrate Monday’s triumph.

The 2-0 scoreline gave l goalkeeper Petr Cech, as the 2-0 a record-breaking Barclays Premier League 170th clean sheet, taking the landmark outright from David James.

For AFC Bournemouth however, the loss condemned them to 16th on the table, sharing similar points with Chelsea, who played a goalless draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford and Norwich, who beat bottom leaguers Aston Villa 2-0 also today.