Arsenal ended champions Manchester City’s short stay at the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win at Chelsea on Sunday that reinforced their credentials as genuine title challengers.
A second-half goal by Brazilian defender Gabriel earned Mikel Arteta’s side their 11th win in 13 league games and they have now beaten Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Newcastle United moved into third place with a 4-1 victory at Southampton taking them above Tottenham who lost 2-1 at home to Liverpool, for whom Mohamed Salah scored twice.
Unai Emery marked his return to English management as his Aston Villa side ended Manchester United’s nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions with a 3-1 victory.
While Villa moved into a relatively comfortable 13th place, West Ham United are getting sucked down towards the relegation places after losing 2-1 at home to Crystal Palace.
Manchester City’s last-gasp win at home to Fulham on Saturday, courtesy of an Erling Haaland penalty, sent Pep Guardiola’s side top with 32 points from 13 games.
A visit to Chelsea looked like a stumbling block for Arsenal, in spite of Chelsea’s poor form, but they eased to a victory that means Graham Potter’s Blues have now gone four games without a league win and sit down in seventh.
Gabriel’s 63rd minute toe-poke by Gabriel was enough to lift Arsenal to 34 points from 13 games.
“It’s another step forward,” Arteta said. “To prove ourselves that we can do it, that we can play at that level against these sorts of players and teams.
“I think we are a really young team but today we played like a mature team.”
While Arsenal are flying as the World Cup shutdown looms, Potter’s honeymoon at Stamford Bridge is well and truly over.
“We’re not in a fantastic moment as we speak and in the end Arsenal deserved to win because they were the better team overall,” Potter said.
Liverpool, after back-to-back league defeats by Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, needed a response at Tottenham and thanks to Salah’s brace they got it.
Salah opened the scoring after 11 minutes and then made it 2-0 shortly before halftime after intercepting a weak back header by Eric Dier and dinking a finish over Hugo Lloris. Tottenham, as they have done consistently this season, played much better in the second half with Harry Kane replying.
But despite constant pressure they could not equalise as Liverpool held on for their first away league win of the season.
Tottenham are in fourth place with 26 points from 14 games while Liverpool rose to eighth with 19 points.
Newcastle fans are starting to dream of Champions League qualification after piling the pressure on Southampton manager Ralph Hassenhuettl whose side are in 18th place.
Miguel Almiron bagged his seventh goal in as many games while substitute Chris Wood and Joe Willock all but sealed a fourth straight win for Newcastle after the break.
Bruno Guimaraes added a late flourish after Romain Perraud’s consolation goal for the hosts.
Emery’s brief spell in charge of Arsenal ended in disappointment but he made the perfect start at Villa who enjoyed a first home win against United since 1995.
Leon Bailey and Lucas Digne put Villa two ahead inside 15 minutes but United hit back on the cusp of halftime when Luke Shaw’s strike deflected in off Jacob Ramsey.
Ramsey restored Villa’s two-goal lead four minutes into the second half and the hosts deservedly took the points.
“I believe in these players, and I know they have been underperforming,” Emery said. “I think we made the first step today.”
Michael Olise scored a 94th-minute goal to seal Palace’s victory at West Ham.
Said Benrahma had put West Ham ahead in the 20th minute with a thunderous strike from outside the box, but the home side faded and an error by Thilo Kehrer allowed Wilfried Zaha to equalise shortly before halftime.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland resumed normal service after missing his side’s last two games when his stoppage-time penalty gave the 10-man champions a dramatic 2-1 victory over Fulham to move top of the Premier League on Saturday.
The Norwegian phenomenon, who came off the bench, took his total to 18 Premier League goals for the season as City overcame having Joao Cancelo sent off in the 26th minute.
Leeds United backed up their stunning win over Liverpool last week when they stormed back from 3-1 down at home to Bournemouth to win 4-3 with Crysencio Summerville again the hero with the winning goal.
Wolverhampton Wanderers named Spaniard Julen Lopetegui as their new manager earlier on Saturday but, with caretaker Steve Davis still in charge, they lost again, this time 3-2 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion, to stay mired in the relegation zone.
On an afternoon of late goals, bottom club Nottingham Forest snatched a 2-2 home draw with Brentford thanks to an own goal by Mathias Jorgensen in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Haaland had missed City’s last two games with an injury and was deemed fit enough only for the bench against Fulham.
He was sent into the fray just past the hour mark with City, despite being a man light, pushing for the winner.
Almost immediately he had a headed goal ruled out for offside after a VAR check, but neither he, nor City, would be denied.
When Kevin de Bruyne was tripped by Antonee Robinson in the area it was Haaland who took the penalty and while it was not his sweetest strike, the ball hit the back of the net.
“I don’t care how it went in, it is about it going in. Amazing feeling,” Haaland said. “When you’ve go 10 versus 11 for 70 minutes it is difficult, but I don’t think any team would do it as good as we did it today.”
CANCELO SENT OFF FOR FOUL
It had looked like being a routine afternoon for City when Julian Alvarez scored in the 17th minute but when Cancelo bundled Harry Wilson to the floor to concede a penalty and earn a straight red card and Andreas Pereira fired home the spot kick, a return to the top no longer looked a formality.
City’s 10th win of the season lifted them to 32 points from 13 games with Arsenal, who travel to seventh-placed Chelsea on Sunday, on 31 from 12 games.
Leeds appeared to be undoing all the good work of last week’s stunning win at Anfield as Bournemouth recovered from conceding an early Rodrigo penalty to lead with goals by Marcus Tavernier, Philip Billing and Dominic Solanke.
The Elland Road mood was turning against manager Jesse Marsch but Sam Greenwood began the comeback with a curler before his cross was headed home by Liam Cooper.
Summerville, who struck the winner at Liverpool, then sealed victory for Leeds in the 84th minute as he latched on to a through ball by substitute Wilfried Gnonto.
Leeds moved up to 12th on 15 points with Bournemouth, who also lost after leading by two goals last week against Tottenham Hotspur, down in 15th with 13 points.
Wolves trailed to an early Adam Lallana goal, then led with goals by Goncalo Guedes and Ruben Neves only for Kaoru Mitoma to level and Nelson Semedo to be red-carded, all before halftime.
Pascal Gross’s fifth goal of the season then secured the win for Brighton to move them to sixth with 21 points.
Forest captain Dean Yates said it was a “massive moment” as a goalmouth scramble in the 96th minute ended with the ball going into the Brentford net off Jorgensen.
“It was a game we couldn’t afford to lose but we feel it’s two points dropped. We need to be winning these games at home,” said Yates, whose side have 10 points.
In the evening kickoff, Leicester climbed out of the bottom three and up to 13th spot in the table thanks to a 2-0 win over Everton, with Youri Tielemans scoring a brilliant goal just before the break and Harvey Barnes adding a late second.