On the last day of 2022, Arsenal's hopes of ending their 15-year wait for the English Premier League championship received a boost when they increased their lead to seven points after a thrilling 4-2 victory at Brighton.
This result increases Arsenal's lead going into 2023 together with Manchester City's 1-1 draw with Everton.
Prior to Kaoru Mitoma's goal, the visitors had a 3-0 lead owing to goals from Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, and Eddie Nketiah.
Before Evan Ferguson added Brighton's second goal with his first league goal, Gabriel Martinelli put any jitters to rest with Arsenal's fourth goal.
Mitoma's second goal was disallowed, preventing the home crowd from witnessing a spectacular finish, and Arsenal held on to earn a well-earned three points.
At the Etihad Stadium, Everton held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw, deflating their hopes of catching Arsenal at the top of the English Premier League.
Erling Haaland, who was visibly enraged following an early altercation with Everton's Ben Godfrey that left the Norway striker needing medical attention, completed a superb play to put the game on the board in the 24th minute.
After receiving possession of the ball on the edge of the penalty area, Riyad Mahrez used deft footwork to go through Vitaliy Mykolenko and find Haaland, who finished expertly past Jordan Pickford from the centre of the box.
Rodri took the ball away, but Demarai Gray scored a remarkable equaliser during the turbulent second half by moving down the right and curling in a shot from just inside the box.
Marcus Rashford went from villain to hero at the Molineux when he came off the bench to defeat Wolves with the game's lone goal and advance Manchester United into the top four of the Premier League.
Rashford was not included in the starting lineup by manager Erik ten Hag due to "internal disciplinary" issues.
Nevertheless, after a lacklustre first half in which Rashford's substitute Alejandro Garnacho blew the visitors' finest opportunity when Jose Sa stopped his effort, the Englishman struck 14 minutes from time.
After passing with Bruno Fernandes and picking up the ball outside of the Wolves box, Rashford evaded three defenders to score his 11th goal in all competitions.
Rashford felt he had a second goal toward the conclusion of the game, but VAR disallowed it for handball after Sa had saved his original shot.