Aston Villa on Saturday ended Arsenal’s 18-match unbeaten run to blow the English Premier League title race wide open with a 2-1 victory as Manchester City beat Sunderland 3-0 to close within two points of the leaders.
While Arsenal and City joust for the title, troubled champions Liverpool sustained another blow as lowly Leeds United snatched a last-gasp 3-3 draw in one of the most dramatic games of the season.
Emiliano Buendia’s stoppage-time strike at Villa Park in Birmingham stunned Arsenal and gave Unai Emery’s third-placed side their ninth win in 10 league games.
Photo:AP
“We were pushing, and we were really, really believing in our victory,” Emery said. “We pushed until the last minute, and we got it.”
Arsenal were without the injured Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba and Cristhian Mosquera in defense, and the normally rock-solid visitors struggled to cope with Villa’s variety of attacking weapons.
Eberechi Eze was caught on his heels as Matty Cash blasted Emery’s men into a half-time lead.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta responded by introducing Viktor Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard at the break, and got the impact he demanded.
Trossard equalized with his 50th Premier League goal, from Bukayo Saka’s deflected cross.
However, Arsenal’s quest to end a 22-year wait to win the title hit a rare bump on the road this season, when Buendia fired into the top corner with virtually the last kick of the game after a goalmouth scramble.
“Losing it in the manner that we did in the last kick of the game was very painful and disappointing,” Arteta said.
“It is a good test as well for us. We’ve been 18 games unbeaten, performing and winning almost every game, and now we have to hit that one. Now, we have to go again and every three days we have a game, so I’m sure we’ll be ready,” he added.
City took full advantage of Arsenal’s defeat to close the gap at the top with a routine 3-0 win over Sunderland.
On a rare shot-shy day for Erling Haaland, City’s centerbacks lead the way as Ruben Dias blasted into the top corner from distance before Josko Gvardiol headed in a second before half-time.
Phil Foden scored for the fifth time in three games to round off the scoring in the second half.
At Elland Road in Leeds, Liverpool suffered another embarrassing capitulation to ramp up the pressure on manager Arne Slot.
The Reds led 2-0 and 3-2 thanks to Hugo Ekitike’s quickfire double and Dominik Szoboszlai’s strike, but still failed to see the game out as they failed to win for the eighth time in their last 10 league games.
Slot’s faith in Ibrahima Konate would again be questioned after the French centreback conceded a penalty that Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted to spark the fightback. Anton Stach leveled before Szoboszlai quickly restored Liverpool’s lead.
However, deep into stoppage-time, Liverpool failed to deal with a corner and Ao Tanaka was unmarked to blast home.
Liverpool are languishing in eighth place, showing no signs of arresting an alarming slide since they clinched a record-equaling 20th title last season.
Chelsea’s title challenge is fading fast after three games without a win.
Cole Palmer’s return to the starting lineup for the first time since September could not inspire the Blues as they were held 0-0 at Bournemouth to sit eight points off the lead in fourth.
Tottenham Hotspur eased the pressure on manager Thomas Frank with their first home league win since the opening day of the season, against his former club Brentford.
Spurs were winless in five games in all competitions, but moved back into the top half with a 2-0 win courtesy of first-half goals from Richarlison and Xavi Simons.
Newcastle United continued their upward trajectory with a 2-1 win over 10-man Burnley at St James’ Park.
Sean Dyche’s return to Everton as Nottingham Forest boss ended in a 3-0 defeat.
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