PIX: Manchester City held, fall behind Arsenal in title race

A round-up of Saturday's action in the Premier League.

Manchester City fell two points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal after being held to a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday.

Arsenal left it very late to beat Aston Villa 4-2 earlier on Saturday and climbed back to the top of the standings, putting pressure on City to earn victory at Forest, with the visitors starting the encounter at a blistering pace.

City dominated possession and deservedly took the lead four minutes before the break with Bernardo Silva slamming the ball into the net from the edge of the box.

The visitors should have doubled their advantage midway through the second half but the usually lethal Erling Haaland hit the crossbar from close range before blazing the rebound over the top.

That miss proved pivotal as, out of nowhere, Forest's January signing Chris Wood tapped home at the far post to level six minutes from time and lift the roof off a damp City Ground.

The champions threw everything at Forest in search of a dramatic late winner but they could not break the hosts' resistance, leaving City two points behind Arsenal having played one game more. Forest climbed to 13th.

City beat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday to drag themselves back to the top of the standings after having trailed the Londoners for much of the season.

Victory over Forest, whom they beat 6-0 in the reverse fixture earlier in the season, was expected, with the only downside in an impressive first-half display being that City were unable to score more than once to make their dominance count.

Haaland, eyeing a 33rd goal in all competitions in his remarkable debut season in England, had to wait for his moment, but his wastefulness ended up costing City all three points.

The Norwegian looked odds on to find the net after his own effort came back to him off the crossbar but he got underneath the rebound effort and put the ball into the stands.

Wood's first goal for Forest since joining from Newcastle United on loan could not have been better timed, earning his side a valuable point in their fight to stay in the Premier League and damaging City's title tilt in the process.

City failed to beat a newly-promoted side in the top flight for the first time since April 2021 when they lost to Leeds United -- they had won nine such games in a row before Saturday's draw.

Arsenal revive title bid with last-gasp win at Villa

Arsenal reinvigorated their push for a first Premier League title in two decades and retook top spot on Saturday with a thrilling 4-2 win at Aston Villa thanks to two late goals.

With a high-quality attacking game going into added time at 2-2, Arsenal midfielder Jorginho saw a looping shot come off the bar and bounce off the head of Villa's Argentina World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez for a cruel own goal.

Minutes later, with the final whistle about to go and Villa piling forward - Martinez included - Arsenal broke forward again for Gabriel Martinelli to stroke into an empty net for the Londoners' fourth in front of their delirious fans.

The result put the Gunners back on top with 54 points after 23 games, three points above Manchester City who go to Nottingham Forest later on Saturday for their 24th match.

It was Arsenal's first win in four Premier League games and followed a dispiriting midweek loss at home to Manchester City who had pared back an eight-point gap from a month ago.

"From this game, we took an unbelievable lesson for all of us. We just need to believe until the very end that we can achieve everything," said Oleksandr Zinchenko, who had made it 2-2 with his first ever Premier League goal earlier in the game.

At a packed and raucous Villa Park in the Midlands, Ollie Watkins had fired home the hosts' opener - and his fourth goal in as many games - in the fifth minute after a scintillating run into the box and jink past defender William Saliba.

Bukayo Saka struck back for Arsenal with a fine left foot drive from inside the area in the 16th minute, before Philippe Coutinho restored Villa's lead with a low shot in the 31st following a clever dummy from Emiliano Buendia.

Zinchenko then levelled for Arsenal in the 62nd minute with a low drive past former Arsenal keeper Martinez.

Ahead of the thrilling finale both sides missed gilt-edged chances, Martin Odegaard pulling wide for Arsenal when he looked certain to score and Villa's Leon Bailey seeing a shot tipped onto the crossbar, before Arsenal struck to claim the points.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he demanded higher standards from his team during a halftime chat.

"In the second half, we outplayed them, we created chance after chance, we dominated absolutely the game. We needed a magic moment and Jorginho produced it," he said.

Villa striker Watkins was left scratching his head after the defeat left his side 11th with 28 points from 23 matches.

Nunez, Gakpo seal Liverpool win at 10-man Newcastle

Liverpool ended Newcastle United's 17-match unbeaten run in the Premier League through early goals by Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo that gave them a 2-0 win at St James' Park.

Juergen Klopp's side caught Newcastle cold with a scintillating start and the stunned hosts were reduced to 10 men in the 22nd minute when goalkeeper Nick Pope was red-carded.

Fourth-placed Newcastle's only previous defeat in the league came against Liverpool at the end of August and they were up against it again when Nunez controlled a long pass by Trent Alexander Arnold to smash home in the 10th minute.

The goal was checked and cleared by VAR after a suspicion that the ball had hit Nunez's arm as he controlled it.

Gakpo doubled Liverpool's lead seven minutes later when he slotted in from a clever pass by Mohamed Salah for his second goal of the week after opening his account against Everton.

Pope was then caught out of his goal area by a long clearance from his opposite number Alisson and ended up grabbing the ball with his hand well outside his penalty area after initially attempting to head it.

Newcastle responded well and were denied by a mixture of the woodwork and Alisson, but the damage was already done.

Liverpool's second successive league win after a run of four games without one moved them up to eighth in the table with 35 points, six points behind Newcastle with a game in hand.

Newcastle's ambitions are coming under threat after only one win and five draws in their last seven league games and they could slip out of the top four on Sunday if Tottenham Hotspur beat West Ham United.

To add to Newcastle's woes they will be without first-choice keeper Pope for next week's League Cup final against Manchester United while Martin Dubravka, who came on to replace Pope, is not available for the Wembley clash as he is cup-tied.

While Newcastle will have an anxious week, Liverpool, who have Virgil van Dijk back after more than a month out, are beginning to look more like their old selves.

Struggling Southampton grab vital win at goal-shy Chelsea

A trademark James Ward-Prowse free kick earned basement club Southampton a precious three points at Chelsea in a scrappy 1-0 Premier League win and piled more pressure on home coach Graham Potter.

Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta brought down Stuart Armstrong just outside the area in the 45th minute and Ward-Prowse curled a free kick over the wall into the right-hand side of the net with goalkeeper Kepa left sprawling.Azpilicueta needed nearly 10 minutes of treatment on the pitch in the second half after he received a kick to the head in a goalmouth clash. Physios from both clubs rushed to his aid and the Spaniard was eventually carried off on a stretcher.

Ward-Prowse said scoring and winning was an "amazing feeling".

"The game was obviously overshadowed a bit by the injury to Cesar and we wish our best to him. We hope he is okay."

Chelsea, who have scored only four goals in 10 games in all competitions since the start of the year, looked livelier in the second half when Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz came on and they kept the Southampton defence under pressure.

Gavin Bazunu was busy in goal and in the dying seconds of added time produced a fingertip save from substitute Conor Gallagher.

Despite spending nearly 300 million pounds ($361.05 million) in the January transfer window, the Blues still could not score against the south-coast team who lie three points below the safety zone and are led by caretaker coach Ruben Selles after Nathan Jones was sacked a week ago.

"It has been a tough season for us," Ward-Prowse told the BBC. "We have lacked a bit of consistency in all aspects of our game. Ruben has come in this week and been fantastic. He has steadied the ship and calmed everyone down."

Chelsea are languishing in 10th place on 31 points from 23 games and are 10 points adrift of the top four.

Their Champions League knockout phase started this season with a 1-0 defeat at Dortmund on Wednesday, when, with a largely different starting line-up, they again buzzed around the opponents’ goal without finding the decisive shot.

Southampton have now done the double over Chelsea this season after beating them 2-1 in August, a month before Potter took over from the sacked Thomas Tuchel.

Coleman earns Everton precious win over fellow strugglers Leeds

Everton defender Seamus Coleman’s goal from the tightest of angles secured a precious 1-0 victory over fellow Premier League strugglers Leeds United at Goodison Park and moved the Merseyside club out of the relegation zone.

The decisive moment came after 64 minutes when Alex Iwobi sent Coleman clear down the flank and, with Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier expecting a cross, the right-back arrowed his shot into the net from virtually the byline.

It was a deserved win for Everton who created numerous opportunities but, as has been the case for much of the season, the league’s lowest scorers' lack of quality in the attacking third meant too many shots, passes and crosses went astray.

"I suppose everyone was expecting the cross but the way my hip was feeling I couldn’t wrap my leg around it so I just thought I’d have a shot because I knew he’d (Meslier) be anticipating the cross," Coleman said.

"Thankfully I caught it well, I wouldn’t catch it like that if I tried again another 10 times. We got what we deserved to be honest.

"We didn’t go away from what we have been working from since the manager (Sean Dyche) came in and thankfully we got the win."

Everton moved up to 16th place with 21 points from 23 games, a point above the drop zone, having taken six points from three games under Dyche. Leeds slipped into the relegation zone with 19 points.

Leeds, who failed to get a shot on target in the 90 minutes, have now matched their club record of 10 Premier League games without a win and the result may hasten their search for a new permanent manager with Michael Skubala in temporary charge following the sacking of Jesse Marsch a fortnight ago.

Everton might also have had a couple of goals in the first half as Amadou Onana fired two shots wide from good positions, and Leeds midfielder Weston McKennie cleared off the line twice in a matter of seconds.

Leeds could not turn later pressure into a point as Everton held on grimly to the raucous delight, and relief, of the home crowd.

Janelt the hero as Brentford snatch draw with Crystal Palace

Brentford substitute Vitaly Janelt headed the equaliser deep into stoppage time to clinch a point for his side in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace after a tight, tense Premier League encounter at the Community Stadium.

The draw, which stretches Brentford's unbeaten run in the Premier League to 11 games, sees Brentford remain in eighth place on 35 points, while Palace are 12th on 26.

Christian Norgaard had an early chance for the home side as the ball fell to him on the edge of the box in the seventh minute, but he pulled his effort just wide of the right-hand post.

A few minutes later Michael Olise registered the first effort on target for the visitors with a stinging shot that was comfortably saved by David Raya, but the clash descended into a cat-and-mouse affair with both sides taking turns in possession but struggling to create decent goal-scoring chances.

Ivan Toney provoked an angry response from Palace defender Joachim Andersen in the 49th minute when he went down as he turned in the box looking for a penalty, with Andersen reading him the riot act as the referee waved away his appeals for a spot kick.

Eberechi Eze's impact off the Palace bench was almost immediate, as he rose unmarked to head home a Michael Olise cross from close range in the 69th minute, and Brentford did little to suggest that they would be able to pull back a goal.

The best chance of an equaliser in normal time fell to Toney, but rather than add to his 14 league goals so far this year, the striker blazed the ball over the bar as Brentford looked increasingly desperate.

With time running out, the Bees finally pulled off their great escape in the sixth minute of stoppage time as German midfielder Janelt headed in a cross form Bryan Mbueno to send the home fans into raptures and give the side an unlikely share of the spoils.

Solomon strikes late to give Fulham a win at Brighton

Substitute Manor Solomon secured a smash-and-grab 1-0 Premier League victory for Fulham at Brighton & Hove Albion in the battle of European qualification hopefuls on the south coast on Saturday.

Israel international Solomon, who had been on the pitch for only six minutes, struck in the 88th minute after Brighton had dominated throughout the contest, sending Marco Silva's side above the hosts into sixth place in the table.

Brighton, who had gone five games unbeaten in the league, were left to rue a failure to take their chances with 20 goal attempts compared to just five for Fulham.

Facundo Buonanotte and Solly March both had the ball in the net for Brighton but were denied by offside flags.

Such was their frustration that manager Roberto de Zerbi was shown a red card after the final whistle for confronting referee Darren England in the tunnel.

Victory left Fulham with 38 points from 24 games, one point behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, while Brighton have 35 points having played 22 games.