Laurent Koscielny earns hard-fought win for Arsenal

Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny celebrates scoring a goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Newcastle United at Emirates stadium in London, Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016.

However predictions that Leicester’s unlikely surge to the summit would be short-lived gained further substance when they failed to break down 10-man Bournemouth and missed a penalty through Riyad Mahrez to extend their winless run to three games.

Scraping a victory when under pressure is often a sign of backbone in potential title winners and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was delighted his side “dug deep” to beat Newcastle United on Saturday.

Arsenal saw out the game, claiming all three points in the process and Mertesacker admits there was an element of luck with his defensive partner Koscielny getting into position to take advantage and score.

After a minute’s applause for former Newcastle goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek, who died on December 29, Arsenal gave Rob Elliot, his successor, an easy first half, their midfield misfiring and their final ball often inaccurate. Giroud won the cross toward the goal post and Koscielny finished it off.

At Old Trafford, Rooney scored a milestone victor against Swansea, which made him the second-highest outright goal-scorer in both Premier League (188 goals) and United (238) history.

Earlier, Liverpool suffered a 2-0 reverse at West Ham, with Michail Antonio and ex-Reds forward Andy Carroll on target for the Hammers.

Wayne Rooney secured a vital victory for United with his first Premier League goal since October, a superb flicked finish in the 77th minute to settle a tight contest and move United up to fifth on 33 points.

“It’s not a day for being disappointed, it’s a day for being angry”, he said. “I can say everybody wants to win it”. “You can not win a football match with 90 percent, you have to do everything…”

Aston Villa spurned another chance to close on safety after losing 3-1 at second-bottom Sunderland, with Jermain Defoe scoring twice to leave Remi Garde’s side seven points adrift at the foot of the table.