Arsenal goes 5 clear into break as Brentford stings Man City
ARSENAL head into the World Cup break five points clear at the top of the Premier League after they beat the Wolves 2-0 on Saturday as Manchester City suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to Brentford.
Newcastle remains third after inflicting Chelsea’s third consecutive league defeat 1-0 at St. James’ Park, while Tottenham scored twice in the final 10 minutes to win a 4-3 thriller against Leeds.
City had not lost at the Etihad since February but was stunned by Ivan Toney’s response to being left out of England’s World Cup squad.
The Brentford captain headed in his 10th goal of the season to give the Bees an early lead, but City responded before halftime thanks to Phil Foden’s sumptuous strike.
Pep Guardiola warned ahead of the game that his side might have one eye on the World Cup with 10 of the City starting XI heading to Qatar.
A lackluster City performance was punished in the eighth minute of time added on when Brentford cut open Guardiola’s men on the counterattack and Toney tapped in Josh Dasilva’s cross.
Arsenal took full advantage to set up an intriguing title battle when the Premier League returns from a six-week hiatus on Boxing Day.
Martin Odegaard led by example for the Gunners as the Norwegian fired home twice from close range in the second half.
New Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui was in the crowd before officially taking charge on Monday and has work to do in the second half of the season with the Wanderers now bottom of the table.
Tottenham once again had to come from behind after goals from the in-form Crysencio Summerville and Rodrigo either side of Harry Kane’s equalizer put Leeds in front at halftime.
Jesse Marsch’s men won 4-3 against Bournemouth last weekend but were this time on the receiving end of a thrilling comeback.
Ben Davies’ powerful strike made it 2-2 before Rodrigo restored Leeds’ lead.
Tottenham has made a habit of late fightbacks this season and rescued the three points as Rodrigo Bentancur scored twice in the final 10 minutes.
Newcastle bounced back above Spurs into third as Joe Willock’s stunning strike extended Chelsea’s winless league run to five games.
The Magpies are just two points adrift of City after a run of 22 points from a possible 24.
Liverpool signed off until Boxing Day on a positive note as Darwin Nunez struck twice against Southampton.
Roberto Firmino’s header opened the scoring inside six minutes at Anfield, but in Nathan Jones’ first game in charge, the Saints responded immediately through Che Adams.
Nunez has been erratic since his 75 million euro ($77 million) signing from Benfica but the Uruguayan is already up to eight goals in his debut season at Liverpool after two excellent finishes before halftime.
Leicester’s rise up the table continued but there were fears it could come at a cost for England.
Nottingham Forest moved off the bottom as Morgan Gibbs-White scored the only goal of a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.