10-man Arsenal loses to West Ham to hit Premier League title bid and leave Arteta 'very, very angry'

Arsenal's failure to sign a prolific striker might have cost the team the chance to win the Premier League title.

Frequently collecting red cards hasn't helped, either.

Second-place Arsenal was unexpectedly beaten 1-0 at home by West Ham on Saturday to dent its title challenge, just when it seemed Liverpool was starting to look vulnerable.

The result left Liverpool with an eight-point lead, having played the same number of games as Arsenal, and that advantage could grow when the Reds play Manchester City away on Sunday.

Jarrod Bowen’s 44th-minute header secured a win for West Ham, which arrived at Emirates Stadium with just one victory in its last eight games. There was worse to come for Arsenal, with left back Myles Lewis-Skelly handed a red card in the 73rd following a video review for his foul on Mohammed Kudus as the last man.

It was Arsenal's fifth red card of the campaign — two more than any other team — and its disciplinary record under Arteta is understandably coming under scrutiny, given it has contributed to valuable dropped points this season.

Maybe a bigger annoyance to fans is the club's decision to not sign a proven out-and-out striker either last offseason or in the winter transfer window.

With forwards Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus all out injured, Arsenal had only two shots on target against West Ham.

“I am very disappointed, and obviously very angry as well," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. "Even though we had 20 shots, I never felt that we were at the standard and the level that we needed.

“We have to be (angry), and I hope we are because we didn’t hit the levels today, and I am very much responsible for that so I am very, very angry.”

Manchester United came from two goals down before benefiting from a last-gasp video-review call to draw 2-2 at Everton.

Uruguay midfielder Manuel Ugarte grabbed the 80th-minute equalizer for United with his first goal at club level in four years, eight minutes after Bruno Fernandes started the visitors’ fightback at Goodison Park by curling in a free kick.

United had been on course to slip to a third straight loss — and ninth defeat in 15 league matches since Ruben Amorim took charge in November — after first-half goals by Beto and Abdoulaye Doucoure for resurgent Everton.

There was a late scare for United when Everton was awarded a penalty for what appeared to be a foul by Harry Maguire on Ashley Young, who fell to the ground dramatically under pressure from Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt in the third minute of stoppage time.

Following a video review, on-field referee Andrew Madley was advised to view the incident again on the pitchside monitor and he changed his initial decision.

Amorim said United “just played one half and we managed to draw the game.”

“We didn’t exist in the first half,” he said.

A huge late mistake from Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen proved costly as Aston Villa came from behind to win 2-1 in a match between two teams chasing Champions League qualification.

Jörgensen, only playing after a number of recent errors by first-choice keeper Robert Sanchez, somehow let a shot from Marco Asensio squirm out of his grasp and over the line in the 89th minute at Villa Park.

That was Asensio's second goal of the game. He had scored the equalizer in the 57th after being set up by fellow new signing Marcus Rashford, who also provided the cross for the winner.

Enzo Fernandez put Chelsea ahead in the ninth minute.

Villa climbed to seventh, a point and a place behind Chelsea with England almost guaranteed to be getting five qualification places for next season's Champions League.

Fifth-place Bournemouth, which is on the same points as Chelsea, lost 1-0 at home to Wolverhampton to damage its bid for Champions League qualification.

Bournemouth defender Illya Zabarnyi's 31st-minute red card was quickly followed by the winning goal by Matheus Cunha for Wolves.

Tottenham beat Ipswich 4-1 for a third straight league win to further ease the pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou, last-place Southampton lost 4-0 at home to Brighton, and Crystal Palace won 2-0 at Fulham.

Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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Aston Villa's Marco Asensio, left, celebrates after scoring his second goal against Chelsea during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Chelsea at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Rui Viera)

Chelsea's goalkeeper Filip Joergensen reacts during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Chelsea at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Rui Viera)

Aston Villa's Marco Asensio celebrates after scoring his second goal against Chelsea during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Chelsea at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Rui Viera)

West Ham's Jarrod Bowen, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and West Ham United at Emirates stadium in London, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly, left, reacts after receiving a red card during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and West Ham United at Emirates stadium in London, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Arsenal's Leandro Trossard reacts after missing a scoring chance during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and West Ham United at Emirates stadium in London, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta reacts during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and West Ham United at Emirates stadium in London, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim gestures, during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Manchester United, at Goodison Park, in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes score his sides first goal, during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Manchester United, at Goodison Park, in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes celebrates scoring his side's first goal, during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Manchester United, at Goodison Park, in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.

The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.

Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.

“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.

Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.

Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.

She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.

The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.

The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.

Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.

“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”

Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.

The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.

That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.

Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.

For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.

Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.

"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”

An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)