Arsenal players joyous after Giroud neutralised Aguero’s first goal

Arsenal have opened ajar the door to Top Four finish  a UEFA Champions League slot for Manchester United and  after rallying to share points with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium Sunday evening.

United had cut the gap to City to one point by beating Norwich City 1-0 on Saturday and can now go a point clear of their neighbours with victory over West Ham United on Tuesday.

In the entertaining Etihad game, witnessed by over 54,000 people, Sergio Aguero opened the scoring, netting for the sixth straight league match in the eighth minute, but Olivier Giroud’s first goal in 16 top-flight appearances restored parity two minutes later.

The visitors were forced to withdraw Danny Welbeck shortly after with an injury that will likely give England manager Roy Hodgson cause for concern.

Moments after,  City appeared poised to leapfrog Arsenal into third place and all but end United’s top-four hopes when Kevin De Bruyne fired in from the edge of the area in the 51st minute.

But it was not to be as Alexis Sanchez opened the door for United by converting at the end of a wonderful one-two with Giroud to score his sixth goal in his last seven league matches and put the Gunners five points clear of Louis van Gaal’s men.

City could not find a way through the Arsenal defence for a third time and settled for 2-2 draw.

Now  they face a nervous wait to see what United do in the game  against West Ham ahead of their last-day trip to Swansea City.

Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger heaped  praises on his team for coming from behind twice to draw the match.

“I believe we had a great performance. We have to keep the focus now. We gave the right response today, ” Wenger said.

As for the injured Welbeck, Wenger said he would have to wait for the scan to make a statement.