Arsenal survives scare at Tottenham and extends lead to 4 points ahead of Man City's game at Forest

Arsenal survived a late scare at Tottenham to stay ahead in the race for the Premier League title on Sunday.

A 3-2 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ensured Mikel Arteta's team will remain at the top of the standings after the latest round of fixtures and kept the pressure on defending champion Manchester City, which played at Nottingham Forest later Sunday.

But Arsenal had to endure a nervous finish despite powering to 3-0 lead in a London derby that was supposed to be one of its biggest tests in the title chase.

“The last 20 minutes wasn’t nice, but it was worth it," Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka said afterward. “We know it is a big derby and they don’t want to lose 3-0 at home. Momentum shifted their way, but I am proud of the boys — we managed to get the three points."

An own-goal from Pierre-Emile Hojberg and further strikes from Saka and Kai Havertz put Arsenal into a commanding position at the break. But in the face of a potential rout, Tottenham responded in the second half through Cristian Romero and a penalty from Son Heung-min in the 87th minute.

Under pressure, Arsenal held on to extend its lead over second-place City to four points. After the match against Forest, City will still have a game in hand.

The advantage is still with City, which will clinch a fourth-straight title if it wins its remaining games this season.

With Liverpool's title hopes further diminishing after dropping five points in two games this week, it is down to Arsenal to challenge Pep Guardiola's domestic dominance.

Having collapsed late on in last season's title race, Arteta's players look more capable of going the distance this time around.

An away fixture against its fiercest rival, Tottenham, was a major test of its credentials at this stage of the campaign. And while Arsenal was guilty of letting Spurs back into a game that should have been killed off much earlier, victory when tension was high was a test of character.

“Maybe last season that could have ended in a draw and we showed we have the experience,” Saka said. “We know City are an amazing team, but they are not perfect, we just need to do our job.”

BOURNEMOUTH RECORD

Without a win in its first nine league games this season, Bournemouth is now in the top half of the table and has set its own Premier League points record.

A 3-0 win against Brighton moved Andoni Iraola's team up to 10th and on 48 points. Bournemouth's previous best in the top flight was 46 points in the 2016-17 season under former manager Eddie Howe.

Goals from Marcos Senesi, Enes Unal and Justin Kluivert secured victory against a Brighton team that is going in the other direction after six games without a win.

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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Arsenal's Declan Rice celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice celebrate at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's Gabriel celebrates with team mates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's Bukayo Saka celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)

Bournemouth's Dango Ouattara, right, and Brighton and Hove Albion's Odeluga Offiah, left, challenge for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between AFC Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion in Bournemouth, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Bournemouth's Justin Kluivert, right, celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between AFC Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion in Bournemouth, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Tottenham's Cristian Romero attempts to score during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta gestures during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's Bukayo Saka reacts after missing an opportunity to score during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's Kai Havertz reacts after missing an opportunity during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Tottenham's Son Heung-min celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty shot during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Arsenal's Gabriel celebrates with team mates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Voters across Maryland and West Virginia will decide key primary elections Tuesday with big implications in the fight for the Senate majority this fall.

At the same time, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump hope to project strength in low-stakes presidential primaries, while further down the ballot, two congressional candidates on opposite sides of the 2021 Capitol attack serve as a stark reminder that the nation remains deeply divided over the deadly insurrection.

In all, three states hosted statewide primary elections on Tuesday — Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia — as Republicans and Democrats pick their nominees for a slate of fall elections. None are more consequential than Senate primaries in Maryland and West Virginia, where Republicans are eying pickup opportunities that could flip control of Congress' upper chamber for at least two years.

In Maryland, Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan expects to dominate the state's GOP Senate primary despite his years-long criticism of Trump, whom Hogan describes as a threat to democracy. The former two-term governor would be the blue state's first Republican senator in more than four decades.

On the Democratic side, Rep. David Trone has been locked in a contentious — and expensive — battle with Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

Trone, the co-founder of the Total Wine & More national liquor store chain, has put more than $61 million of his own money into the race. That's just shy of the national record for self-funding a Senate campaign, with much of it going to a months-long TV ad blitz. The three-term congressman says he’s better positioned to beat Hogan in November as a progressive Democrat not beholden to special interests.

Race has been an issue in the primary, with Alsobrooks working to become Maryland’s first Black U.S. senator. Trone apologized in March for what he said was the inadvertent use of a racial slur during a budget hearing.

Alsobrooks has been endorsed by many of the state’s top officials, including Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Rep. Steny Hoyer and a long list of state lawmakers. She has campaigned on growing economic opportunity, investing in education and protecting abortion rights.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice and U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney are the leading GOP candidates in the race to replace Sen. Joe Manchin. With Manchin gone, the seat is almost guaranteed to turn red come November.

The Trump-endorsed Justice, a former billionaire with a folksy personality that’s made him wildly popular in the state, is the front-runner against Mooney and five other lesser-known Republicans. A former Democrat, Justice switched to the Republican Party in 2017. He announced the change at a Trump rally.

Mooney has tried to win over conservatives by labeling Justice a “RINO” — which stands for “Republican in name only” — who would support Democratic policies. Justice did support Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, saying West Virginia couldn't afford to turn away the money offered in the bill. Mooney voted against it.

At a polling place in West Virginia’s capital city, voter Steve Ervin said his votes on Tuesday were directly related to Trump.

“I really did an exhaustive study of the sample ballot of who I believe supported Trump and Trump supported them,” said Ervin, who works in the state’s unemployment office. “That’s what I made my whole decision on.”

West Virginia is also deciding its candidates for governor.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican nominee in the 2018 Senate race against Manchin, is running for the Republican nomination. He’s up against former state Rep. Moore Capito, whose mother is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito.

Biden and Trump have already amassed enough delegates to claim the presidential nominations at their respective national conventions this summer. Yet voters on both sides hope to register a significant protest vote Tuesday that will demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the Biden-Trump rematch.

Maryland progressives especially unhappy with the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas are encouraging voters to select “uncommitted to any presidential candidate” instead of Biden. There is no uncommitted option in West Virginia or Nebraska.

Everett Bellamy, a Democrat who voted early in Annapolis, said he voted “uncommitted” instead of Biden as a protest against the killing of women and children and noncombatants in Gaza.

“I wanted to send a message,” Bellamy, 74, said after leaving an early voting center.

Meanwhile, Trump's Republican critics cannot choose “uncommitted,” but they can choose his former GOP rival Nikki Haley, who will appear on the ballot in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia despite formally suspending her campaign more than two months ago.

Both Biden and Trump won their primaries in West Virginia.

Derek Faux, an independent voter from Charleston, W.V., said he supported Haley, and in other Republican races, he said he voted for the candidates he believed were least like Trump.

“I would rather see moderate, reasonable Republicans than some of the other folks,” said Faux, a librarian.

Tuesday's elections also include two candidates who were intimately involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In West Virginia, a former member of the House of Delegates, Derrick Evans, is running for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District. The 39-year-old Trump loyalist served a three-month jail sentence after livestreaming himself participating in the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Evans is trying to oust incumbent Republican Rep. Carol Miller.

In Maryland, former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn is among nearly two dozen Democrats running in the state's 3rd Congressional District. The 40-year-old Democrat was in the Capitol working to repel the violent mob on Jan. 6.

In Nebraska, Republican Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts both face nominal opposition in their primaries, one of the rare occasions when both senators in a state are on the ballot at the same time. And in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon faces a challenge from his right flank.

In North Carolina, voters will finalize their pick in what has become a one-person Republican primary in the state's 13th Congressional District. Trump endorsed Brad Knott this month, leading his opponent to suspend her campaign.

This story has deleted an incorrect reference to a California election being Tuesday. The California election is next week.

Willingham reported from Charleston, West Virginia. Peoples reported from Washington.

Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

FILE - U.S. Rep. David Trone, D-Md., speaks at a news conference Jan. 17, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democrats voting in Maryland's contentious primary for U.S. Senate are divided about who is best positioned to beat Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan. Trone and Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks are the most prominent candidates in the Democratic primary. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, center, listens during a bill hearing in Maryland, Jan. 23, 2020, in Annapolis, Md. Democrats voting in Maryland's contentious primary for U.S. Senate are divided about who is best positioned to beat Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan. Alsobrooks and Congressman David Trone are the most prominent candidates in the Democratic primary. (AP Photo/Brian Witte, File)

FILE - Former republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan visits the Bridge Boat Show in Stevensville, Md., April 12, 2024. Democrats voting in Maryland's contentious primary for Senate are divided about who is best positioned to beat Hogan. Congressman David Trone and Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks are the most prominent candidates in the Democratic primary. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Primaries in Maryland and West Virginia will shape the battle this fall for a Senate majority

Primaries in Maryland and West Virginia will shape the battle this fall for a Senate majority

Signs are pictured outside an early voting center on Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Rockville, Md. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump look to pad their delegate totals in Maryland Tuesday, May 14. Maryland voters will also decide contested primaries in a Senate race. Former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan's late entry into the race has given Republicans hope of a possible pick-up in a state that hasn't elected a Republican U.S. senator since 1980. The leading Democratic primary candidates are U.S. Rep. David Trone and Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. (AP Photo/Robert Yoon)