The top Premier League moments of the month - April 2022
By 90min Staff
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April is behind us and we are now OFFICIALLY at The Business End of the Season™.
The final table is beginning to take shape, although we still have a two-horse title race on our hands, the top four chase to sort out and two more relegation places unfortunately up for grabs.
The past month saw the title challengers go head to head and one of those relegation spots officially taken up, with no end of drama.
Here are the ten best Premier League moments from April - ranked.
10. Palace dent Arsenal's top four hopes
Crystal Palace away is never an easy fixture on paper, and so it proved when Arsenal travelled from north to south London at the start of the month.
Roared on by a raucous home crowd under the Selhurst Park lights, the top-four chasing Gunners didn't know what hit them.
2-0 down at half-time, Mikel Arteta's men were eventually put to bed by Wilfried Zaha's late penalty on a damaging night.
9. Pope masterclass frustrates Hammers
It feels as though goalkeeping masterclasses are hard to come by these days, but Nick Pope produced one to keep West Ham at bay.
The England international made a string of fine late saves to rescue a point for the relegation-threatened Clarets.
The pick of the bunch was from an Issa Diop header, as Pope somehow clawed the ball off his line.
8. Xhaka's zinger downs Man Utd
After that aforementioned thumping by Palace, Arsenal lost two more games before getting themselves back on track.
Part of that recovery was a crucial 3-1 win over Manchester United at the Emirates, with the pick of the goals coming from the boot of much-maligned Granit Xhaka.
The Swiss shifted the ball out his feet 25 yards from goal and pinged an unstoppable strike beyond David de Gea to wrap up the three points.
7. Norwich slip back down to Championship
Norwich finally lost their battle against relegation as April came to a close, with the Canaries heading back down to the Championship yet again.
The final nail in their coffin was a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa - manager Dean Smith's former club.
Fast-forward 12 months, you wouldn't bet against Norwich being on their way up again...
6. Ronaldo nets another hat-trick
It was not an easy month off the pitch for Cristiano Ronaldo, but on it he continued to lead by example.
The veteran superstar netted his second hat-trick in as many months as he was forced to haul Manchester United to victory against lowly Norwich with all three goals in a 3-2 victory.
He completed the job with a trademark dipping free kick to lift the lid off Old Trafford.
5. Almiron's individual brilliance vs Palace
It's fair to say that Newcastle probably expected a better goalscoring return from Miguel Almiron when they signed him from Atlanta United a few years ago.
It's some consolation, though, that he made his first goal of the season a very special one - and a match-winner at that.
Running onto a bouncing ball in the right channel, Almiron shrugged off a defender, drifted inside and planted a stunning left-footed finish into the top corner to send St James' Park into raptures.
4. Chelsea hit Saints for six
Chelsea were not in the best of form throughout April as they muddle towards the end of the season with issues both on and off the field.
However, it seemed they had turned a corner on the south coast when they absolutely thumped Southampton.
The Blues were 4-0 up at half-time and added two more in the second period, with Mason Mount and Timo Werner the standout performers.
3. Arsenal win Premier League classic at Chelsea
After those aforementioned trio of consecutive defeats, Arteta needed a big performance from his players at Chelsea - and he got one.
Striker Eddie Nketiah was the unlikely match-winner as the game eventually ended 4-2 to the Gunners.
It had been 2-2 at half-time, with the sides helping each other out with a litany of defensive errors.
2. Title hopefuls play out epic draw
April brought the biggest and most hotly-anticipated game of the season so far as Manchester City and Liverpool went head to head at the Etihad Stadium. It didn't disappoint.
It was very much a game of two halves, with City dominant in the first period despite only leading 2-1 at the break.
However, they somehow allowed Liverpool back into the game when play resumed, with Sadio Mane levelling in the first minute of the second half. The draw means the top two are still separated by just a single point.
1. Brentford stun Chelsea at the Bridge
There was a strange coincidence at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea lost by three goals at home to a newly-promoted team on the same weekend in April for the second year in a row.
After West Brom in 2021 it was Brentford's turn to produce a huge shock, coming from behind to stun their west London rivals with FOUR second-half goals.
Among the scorers was Christian Eriksen, who netted his first strike since making his return following a cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.