Arsenal stumble again and Chelsea blues continue – 5 things from Premier League
Wolves and Bournemouth both made it back-to-back wins.
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Your support makes all the difference.The Premier League title race took another turn as leaders Arsenal surrendered a two-goal lead for the second week running while Manchester City piled the pressure on with a 3-1 win over Leicester.
Wolves and Bournemouth both made it back-to-back wins with victories against Brentford and Tottenham, respectively, to put some breathing room between themselves and the relegation zone.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at five things we learned from the latest round of Premier League fixtures.
Arsenal drop more points
After Manchester City beat Leicester 3-1 on Saturday, Mikel Arteta’s leaders looked to be in cruise control and on their way to re-establishing a six-point advantage over their title rivals after scoring twice in the opening 10 minutes against West Ham through Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard.
But, a week after losing a 2-0 lead to draw with Liverpool, Arsenal once again allowed their opponents back into the game when Said Benrahma tucked away a first-half penalty after Lucas Paqueta was brought down by Gabriel.
The Gunners had a chance to restore their two-goal cushion but Bukayo Saka put his spot-kick wide before Jarrod Bowen’s volley cost Arsenal two vital points.
The result leaves Arsenal just four points clear of City, who have a game in hand, with the two sides due to play each other in what could be a title decider at the end of the month.
Chelsea misery continues
A poor start to Frank Lampard’s interim reign back at Chelsea continued as the Blues relinquished a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 to a dominant Brighton.
After losing his first game in charge against Wolves, followed by a European defeat to Real Madrid, Lampard’s return to Stamford Bridge was spoiled after goals from Danny Welbeck and Julio Enciso condemned his Chelsea side to a third straight loss.
The win for Brighton keeps them in seventh and on course for a European spot next season while Chelsea are now winless in five, with their own hopes of European qualification all but over.
Manchester United fight off injury woes
Manchester United sealed a third straight win and clean sheet in the Premier League, despite the recent pile-up in their treatment room.
Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane were both subbed off with injuries in United’s midweek draw against Sevilla – with Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Alejandro Garnacho and Scott McTominay also ruled out – and the situation was not helped when Marcel Sabitzer picked up an injury in the warm-up before Sunday’s meeting with Nottingham Forest.
Goals from Antony and Diogo Dalot secured a 2-0 win for United at the City Ground but boss Erik ten Hag will hope for some positive fitness news soon with his side still fighting on three fronts.
Fight for top-four spot heating up
The race for the Champions League places looks set to go to the wire with at least five teams in contention for the two spots behind Arsenal and Manchester City.
Manchester United are in pole position after climbing to third but fourth-placed Newcastle and fifth-placed Tottenham both suffered defeats this weekend, allowing in-form Aston Villa and Brighton to close the gap with victories. Liverpool, who play Leeds on Monday night, have games in hand and could also mount a late push.
Villa are coming up fast, making it five successive wins after an impressive 3-0 dismantling of Newcastle at Villa Park.
Tottenham blew their chance to close the gap after Dango Ouattara’s stoppage-time effort snatched a 3-2 win for Bournemouth, despite Son Heung-min giving Spurs the lead.
Brighton, meanwhile, are now just seven points behind Newcastle with a game in hand after their win at Stamford Bridge.
Blow for bottom four
This weekend proved a bad one for the bottom four sides in the battle to avoid relegation with Southampton, Leicester, Forest and Everton all falling to defeat while several of their rivals picked up wins.
Eberechi Eze’s double for upwardly-mobile Crystal Palace at St Mary’s left Saints four points adrift of safety with just seven games to play while Erling Haaland and co did the damage in the first 45 minutes as Leicester lost at Manchester City and Forest’s loss on Sunday ensured the bottom three remained unchanged.
Everton failed to take advantage and fell to their fourth game without a win after losing to Brentford, the Toffees sitting outside the drop zone on goal differnece.
In contrast, victories for Wolves and Bournemouth provided them with some breathing space and they now sit seven and six points above the bottom three, respectively, while David Moyes’ 15th-placed Hammers fought back from two goals down against Arsenal to add another valuable point to their tally.