Arsenal edge Chelsea as title race becomes a painful, gripping spectacle

At a swanky London hotel the Premier League chief executive, Richard Masters, outlined a future “Premflix” direct‑to‑consumer app to sluice the game into the eyeballs of 8 billion rapt humans, echoing words Todd Boehly used on the same stage a year earlier about the league as a new tech platform and engine of empire.

Three‑quarters of the way through a match that felt at times like a 300‑year‑old Derbyshire wrestle‑ball event, Arsenal found a way to score from set pieces. A free‑kick from Declan Rice was deflected for a corner; from the resulting corner‑bundle Jurriën Timber scored what proved to be the vital winner.

Chelsea had also scored from a corner‑bundle, amid a contest that many will describe as dense, claustrophobic hate‑football. The title race has become an utterly moreish spectacle, every odd goal and shaved point turning into a referendum on projects and characters.

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