Premier League: Arsenal survive tense moments in 3-2 win over Watford
Arsenal moved into the top four in the Premier League with a hard-fought 3-2 win against Watford on Sunday in a roller-coaster of a game at Vicarage Road.
Martin Odegaard (5th min), Bukayo Saka (30th min) and Gabriel Martinelli (52nd min) scored for Arsenal while Juan Hernandez (11th min) and Moussa Sissoko (87th) scored for Watford.
With this win, Arsenal now have 48 points from 25 matches, trailing Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
After the drama of their last Premier League clash some 10 days earlier against Wolverhampton Wanderers in which they scraped through to a 2-1 win, Mikel Arteta would have been expecting a more sedate affair on Sunday.
However, the Gunners continued to live dangerously as they conceded an early goal' Arteta's heart must have been in his mouth when, 19 seconds into the game, Emmanuel Dennis raced behind their defence and scored a goal. However, Arsenal were saved the blushes as the goal was ruled offside.
Having recovered from that threat, Arsenal took the lead minutes later as a slick move up the right saw Martin Odegaard flick the ball to Bukayo Saka. The England international raced up the right and picked out Odegaard, who took a touch before finding the far corner for his fifth goal of the campaign.
But their lead did not last long as the Hornets came up with a sharp move on the right, with Kiko Femenia crossing for Cucho Hernandez to send a brilliant overhead kick past Ramsdale - and this time it did count -- the score was 1-1.
Arsenal regained the lead when some fine work by Saka to steal the ball in front of the Watford box saw him find Alex Lacazette in the area. The captain held off Craig Cathcart before playing it back to Saka to curl the ball high into the roof of the net.
The Gunners could not add to their lead before the interval, but after the breather opened up a two-goal advantage in clinical fashion.
Saka took a quick throw-in to release Cedric up the right and he found Lacazette on the edge of the area. Lacazette laid it off to Gabriel Martinelli and the Brazilian found the top corner with a fine first-time effort.
There was still plenty of life in the game, and the hosts soon had a penalty shout waved away, with Moussa Sissoko and Tom Cleverley in quick succession.
Lacazette had an opportu'ity to extend Arsenal's lead after some good work from Odegaard but fired wide, while Ben White skewed a volley wide when well placed.
While Arsenal kept pushing for a'other goal, Roy Hodgson's side added another twist when Sissoko forced the ball home from a tight angle, to make it 2-3.
Watford attacked in search of the equaliser but Arsenal held on to claim three points.