There was another win for Arsenal in the Premier League on Wednesday, but more misery for Liverpool and their under-fire manager, Arne Slot.
While Arsenal accelerated their title charge with a 2-0 victory over Brentford to regain a five-point lead, Liverpool needed a late own-goal just to salvage a 1-1 draw with Sunderland AFC at Anfield.
Slot is back under pressure, with his team languishing in eighth place in a disappointing title defense and his decision to leave star forward Mohamed Salah out of the starting lineup for a second straight game likely to be heavily scrutinized.
Photo: AFP
“It’s clear that teams that play us now think they can get a result,” Slot said.
Arguably a bigger shock came at Elland Road, where Chelsea fell to a 3-1 loss to Leeds United in a blow to their hopes of challenging for the title.
Chelsea dropped to fourth place and nine points adrift of Arsenal, who stretched their unbeaten run in all competitions to 18 matches and are looking good for a first league title since 2004.
Arsenal’s strength in depth was on show in the comfortable win over Brentford that maintained the team’s unbeaten record at Emirates Stadium this season.
The leaders were without first-choice centerbacks Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba because of injury, while manager Mikel Arteta started stars Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze on the bench.
Two of the back-ups combined for the 11th-minute opener, as Mikel Merino headed in Ben White’s cross before Saka came on as a substitute and scored the second goal with a shot that crawled over the line in stoppage-time.
Injuries are mounting for Arteta, though — especially at centerback. Cristhian Mosquera has been filling in for Saliba, but also faces a spell out after limping off late in the first half. Midfielder Declan Rice was withdrawn with a suspected calf problem in the 83rd minute.
With Arsenal in the middle of a run of games every three or four days, Arteta called on soccer authorities to think of players’ welfare.
“Rest? That’s quite a positive word to use,” Arteta said of his team selection. “We had to make some changes. We can play minutes, but if they [soccer officials] can please give us just a little more time to recover and to make the welfare of these players a little bit easier, that would be great.”
Manchester City were Arsenal’s closest challenger after their 5-4 against Fulham in a wild match.
Florian Wirtz is still waiting for his first goal for Liverpool since his off-season move from Bayer 04 Leverkusen, with his shot for the 81st-minute equalizer deflecting off Sunderland defender Nordi Mukiele and spinning into the net for what officially went down as an own-goal.
Sunderland, who were in sixth place on their return to the top flight and defying most pundits’ pre-campaign expectations, benefitted from a deflection to take the lead in the 67th minute. Chemsdine Talbi’s long-range effort hit Virgil van Dijk on the leg and ricocheted into the far corner beyond Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca had little to cheer in the loss against Leeds.
“A very poor night,” Maresca said. Leeds “deserved to win the game, they were better in all aspects.”
Leeds led 2-0 at halftime following goals by Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanaka. Pedro Neto reduced the deficit in the 50th minute, but a defensive mistake by Tosin Adarabioyo led to Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin tapping in to make it 3-1.
Last-place Wolverhampton Wolves remained without a win this campaign after losing 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest thanks to a second-half goal by Brazilian striker Igor Jesus. After 14 rounds, Wolves have just two points.
Aston Villa came from 2-0 down to win 4-3 against Brighton & Hove Albion, while Crystal Palace beat Burnley 1-0 thanks to Colombia wing back Daniel Munoz’s goal.
Manchester United were to play West Ham United after press time last night.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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