City, Villa keep pace with Arsenal, Liverpool resurgence continues

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Arsenal resisted a late fightback from Brighton yesterday to keep hold of first place in the English Premier League, but Manchester City and Aston Villa are in hot pursuit.

It is a three-way fight at the top, with just three points separating first and third in the standings.

City briefly held top spot after a 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest but, when Arsenal beat Brighton by the same score later in the day, they returned to the summit with a two-point advantage over Pep Guardiola’s team.

Villa are just a point further back in third after extending their remarkable winning run to 11 games in all competitions with a comeback 2-1 victory at Chelsea.

Villa play Arsenal at the Emirates on Tuesday and a win would see them move level on points with the leader at the turn of the year.

Liverpool are up to fourth after their resurgence continued with a 2-1 win of their own against last-place Wolverhampton, who set a new Premier League record for the longest winless run from the start of a season.

Another own goal kept Arsenal at the top of the standings — but they required an outstanding save from David Raya to deny Brighton.

Martin Odegaard gave Mikel Arteta’s team a 14th-minute lead — and, when Brighton’s Georginio Rutter headed a wicked Declan Rice corner into his own net seven minutes into the second half, Arsenal were in control.

But nerves began to spread around the Emirates when Diego Gomez pulled a goal back against the run of play in the 64th. Yankuba Minteh then hit a shot that was destined for the top corner until Raya stretched an arm to push it away.

“Their goal changed the momentum a little bit and they pressed us towards the end, but we got the three points and that’s all that matters,” Odegaard said. “Lots of positives and still some things we can improve, but overall a good game and another win.”

Arsenal have become set-piece specialists but, in recent weeks, they have benefited from a slew of own goals, with Rutter’s the latest to prove decisive.

It was the fourth time in as many games opponents have scored an own goal against the league’s frontrunners.

Rayan Cherki kept Manchester City’s title challenge powering on with a late winner at Forest.

The France forward’s 83rd-minute strike secured victory at the City Ground to make it six league wins in a row for Guardiola’s team. City are on an eight-game winning run in all.

“Today is a big win,” Cherki told TNT Sports. “I’m proud of the team because this game is very complicated to win.”

It was Cherki’s second goal in three games and fifth overall. He also provided an assist with an intricate pass to Tijjani Reijnders to put City ahead three minutes into the second half.

Omari Hutchinson equalised for relegation-fighting Forest, who were holding out for a crucial point until Cherki fired through a crowded box for the winner.

Guardiola, who has won 12 league titles with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, looks like a man who believes his team is ready to regain the crown they surrendered to Liverpool last season. He joined in the celebrations with the travelling fans after the final whistle — acting as conductor as they celebrated wildly after another win.

“When we won a lot of titles in Barcelona, Bayern Munich, here, you have a lot of games of this type,” he said. “The body language, how we celebrated, the connection with the fans is there.”

Super sub Ollie Watkins came off the bench and extended Villa’s winning run.

With Unai Emery’s team trailing 1-0 at Stamford Bridge to Joao Pedro’s first-half strike, Watkins was sent on to try to salvage something.

And the England striker delivered in emphatic fashion, levelling the game within five minutes of coming on and then heading in the winner in the 84th to stun the home crowd and spark frenzied celebrations among Villa’s travelling supporters.

That’s 12 wins in Villa’s last 13 league games to firmly establish themselves as a genuine title contender with Arsenal up next.

“Amazing is the word to sum it up,” Watkins told Sky Sports.

A fourth straight win for Liverpool and another sign that Florian Wirtz is finding his feet in England’s top flight.

Wirtz scored his first Premier League goal since joining the defending champions from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, and it proved to be decisive against Wolves.

Wirtz doubled Liverpool’s lead before half-time after Ryan Gravenberch had opened the scoring at Anfield, but Wolves halved the deficit through Santiago Bueno after the break.

“I was confident that I will score one day but, of course, I wanted to start earlier, scoring and assisting,” Wirtz said. “It was like this and I have to accept it. I just know that it would come and I tried to keep going like that.”

After seeing their title defence unravel between September and November, Liverpool are now on a seven-game unbeaten run.

Wolves are on a very different run. After 18 rounds of the season, the Midlands club have set a new low in the Premier League era — overtaking the record they shared with Sheffield United for the longest winless start to a campaign.

Kevin Schade scored a hat-trick in Brentford’s 4-1 rout of Bournemouth.

Antoine Semenyo was on target for Bournemouth ahead of the January transfer window when he is reportedly a target for some of the Premier League’s top clubs, including Man City.

West Ham’s relegation fight was dealt a blow as Raul Jimenez scored in the 85th to seal a 1-0 win for Fulham, while second-to-bottom Burnley drew 0-0 with Everton.

Yesterday’s Results

Man United 1-0 Newcastle

Forest 1-2 Man City

West Ham 0-1 Fulham

Brentford 4-1 Bournemouth

Liverpool 2-1 Wolves

Arsenal 2-1 Brighton

Burnley 0-0 Everton

Chelsea 1-2 Villa