Jurrien Timber and William Saliba scored from corners to give Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, cutting the gap to Premier League leaders Liverpool and ending Ruben Amorim's unbeaten start.
The Gunners threatened from set pieces but little else in a strangely subdued first half, with Thomas Partey unable to direct a dangerous Declan Rice corner that injured defender Gabriel may well have converted.
United goalkeeper Andre Onana twice needed to punch clear from corners, with the second presenting a half-chance for Gabriel Martinelli who sliced his shot high and wide.
The visitors were content to slow the game down and retain possession, but went close before the break as Diogo Dalot dragged his effort wide from a tight angle.
Arsenal were sharper after the restart and took the lead from another Rice corner in the 54th minute, with Timber heading in from a tight angle.
United nearly levelled from a set piece of their own shortly after, but David Raya produced a superb fingertip save at full stretch to claw away Matthijs de Ligt's goalbound header.
Arsenal put the game to bed in the 73rd minute when Partey's header from a Bukayo Saka delivery bounced off Saliba and in for Arsenal's 22nd league goal from a corner since the start of last season.
"Until the set pieces the game didn't have too many opportunities for both sides, the set pieces killed the game," Amorim told the BBC.
Rice nearly added a third before substitute Mikel Merino headed past the post from the resulting corner, as each set piece generated a roar of expectation.
Arsenal saw the game out to capitalise on Liverpool's draw at Newcastle United, with the victory putting them third behind Chelsea on goal difference on 28 points from 14 games -- with the gap to the leaders now seven points.
During a small wobble while influential captain Martin Odegaard was injured, critics had questioned Arsenal's title credentials but Rice said that was premature.
"People get carried away with the title talk," he told Amazon Prime. "I was involved in my first one last year and you just need to be in and around it in February time."
His manager Mikel Arteta told reporters: "It's true that we went through a lot in that period ... you have to react. It's about trying to do it next.
"Today, now we've won four in a row -- it doesn't matter, we have to go to Fulham and be better than them."
Amorim's first loss as United manager -- and his first league defeat since his former club Sporting were beaten by Vitoria de Guimaraes in December, 2023 -- left them 11th on 19 points.
Amorim saw positives from United, especially in the first half.
"I make the evaluation of a game regardless of the result, he told reporters. "The 4-0 (win against Everton), you can take positive things but you have to improve and you already knew that.
"You can feel it in the first half, especially at the end of the first half, you can feel that they were not comfortable, you can feel it in the stadium, so you can take that."
Newcastle deny Liverpool in 6-goal thriller
Premier League leaders Liverpool had their advantage cut to seven points as Fabian Schar's late equaliser earned Newcastle United a thrilling 3-3 draw at St James' Park on Wednesday.
An inspired Newcastle twice led but Mohamed Salah's brace looked like sealing victory for Arne Slot's side, only for a sliding Schar to punish a rare misjudgement by Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher in the 90th minute.
Until Schar's late intervention the night was once again all about the unstoppable Salah who has now scored and assisted in 37 Premier League games in his career -- a new record.
The Egyptian guided in substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold's pass in the 68th minute after Anthony Gordon had restored Newcastle's lead from Alexander Isak's pass.
Salah then struck the crossbar with a wonderfully improvised effort but was not to be denied as he produced a silky turn in the area to fire a shot past Nick Pope in the 83rd minute.
The 32-year-old has now scored in seven successive Premier League games and moved ahead of Manchester City's Erling Haaland at the top of this season's chart with 13 goals.
"Every time we need him he scores an important goal," Slot said of Salah's performance. "He was outstanding, apart from the goals he did many more special things for us."
Slot was understandably disappointed to drop two points so late on although he admitted his side were lucky to still be in the game at halftime after being dominated by Newcastle.
Liverpool head into the weekend's Merseyside derby on 35 points from 14 games with Chelsea and Arsenal on 28. Newcastle are 10th with 20 points.
Newcastle's high-tempo was too much for the visitors in the first half and they thoroughly deserved the lead given to them by Isak's spectacular shot from the edge of the area.
The Swede was played in by Bruno Guimaraes's pass and showed great balance to step inside Virgil van Dijk before smashing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.
Jacob Murphy also hit the post for Newcastle, as did Alexis Mac Allister for Liverpool, while the hosts should have been further ahead when Gordon went clear through on goal only for Kelleher to make a save.
Liverpool were a different proposition in a pulsating second half and Salah's pass with the outside of his foot enabled Curtis Jones to make it 1-1 five minutes after the restart.
The visitors carved out several other opportunities but Slot admitted a draw was a fair reward for both sides.
"We were outstanding in the second half but the first half we were not good enough," Slot said. "They were really aggressive and forced us to make mistakes. But the second half was so much better and we had much more control."
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was full of praise for Isak who had earlier threatened to upstage Salah.
"I thought that was his best performance of the season. It was a goal out of nothing. This season we've missed those. Those moments of magic can swing games your way," he said.
Man City ease past Forest to end losing run
Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne bagged one goal and set up another in his first start in more than two months as City outclassed Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Wednesday to end their four-game losing run in the Premier League.
Bernardo Silva and Jeremy Doku also scored to help end City's seven-match winless streak across all competitions, and lift Pep Guardiola's men fourth in the table with Forest sixth.
"We needed it, the club, the players, everyone needed to win," Guardiola said. "The most important thing, of course, was to break this routine of don't win games, and finally we won."
De Bruyne had not started since suffering an abdominal injury in September and his presence was immediately felt as he helped put City on the scoresheet in the eighth minute when Ilkay Gundogan lifted in a cross which the Belgian headed towards goal and Silva poked the ball home from close range.
De Bruyne scored himself in the 31st minute when he latched on to a pass from Doku and fired home from just inside the 18-yard box. Doku all but put the game away in the 57th minute when he met a pinpoint long ball from Erling Haaland, cut inside his man and lashed it into the far corner.
De Bruyne, who had relieved City fans singing his name all night, had come on as a substitute in the team's five previous games, including a 2-0 loss at league leaders Liverpool on Sunday that left champions City fifth in the table.
There had been questions about a reported rift between the oft-injured De Bruyne and Guardiola but the 33-year-old was given the captain's armband on Wednesday, and he led the team in style.
"He played really good," Guardiola said of his skipper. "Defensively he helped us a lot. Very good. I'm really pleased. He's an incredible person. What he's done these years with us have been outstanding. Maybe he can't play every three days, but hopefully he can help us."
Forest squandered chances, among the most glaring when Chris Wood was one on one with keeper Stefan Ortega but fired his shot wide. Wood was left to rue that opportunity to equalise as De Bruyne scored less than a minute later.
"When you lose 3-0 and you come and say it was a good performance, maybe people don't understand, but I would not say it was a bad performance as there were positive things in the game for us," Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo said. "Of course, there was a lot of bad things, mistakes."
Guardiola selected Ortega as his keeper over Ederson for the second successive game, and the German made a spectacular diving save from a blistering shot from Morgan Gibbs-White early in the game.
Chelsea stroll to 5-1 away win ov\\er 10-man Southampton
Chelsea's impressive 5-1 win at bottom club Southampton closed the gap to leaders Liverpool in the Premier League on Wednesday, with the home side having Jack Stephens sent off before half time for a hair-pull on Marc Cucurella.
Chelsea move up to second in the standings, ahead of Arsenal on goal difference and are seven off leaders Liverpool after their 3-3 draw at Newcastle United. Southampton remain on five points.
Chelsea took the lead in the seventh minute through Axel Disasi's header but Joe Aribo drew Southampton level four minutes later before a goalkeeping howler allowed Christopher Nkunku in to put the visitors back ahead.
Noni Madueke extended Chelsea's lead 11 minutes from the break and despite the red card for Stephens, the visitors had to wait until the 76th minute before Cole Palmer added a fourth and three minutes from time Jadon Sancho rounded off the win.
Chelsea went in front when Diasi got ahead of the keeper from a corner whipped into the near post to power a header to the net.
The home side were quick to equalise, with Kyle Walker-Peters laying the ball back from the byline and Aribo was there to knock it home.
All Southampton's hard work was undone six minutes later, as once again this season they paid the price for their insistence on playing out from the back.
Keeper Joe Lumley was well outside his own area when he played a poor pass out to midfield. It was nicked by Chelsea's Madueke and he passed to Nkunku to score into the empty goal.
Chelsea took control when Joao Felix passed to Madueke out wide on the edge of the area who cut inside before firing his shot into the far bottom corner.
Southampton's struggles were compounded by Stephens' moment of madness when he pulled Cucurella's hair at a corner kick, with the defender shown the red card six minutes from the break.
Chelsea began the second half where they left off, creating chance after chance. The unmarked Felix sent a header wide of the post and Tosin Adarabioyo smashed a shot off the upright from close range.
They finally found a fourth goal when Nkunku's effort under pressure would probably have rolled over the line, but Palmer took no chances and tapped the ball in, with the Chelsea fans chanting their manager Enzo Maresca's name as they celebrated.
"The results, for sure, help us a lot to calm down noise around the club. It's a good feeling to see the fans happy," Maresca told reporters.
The home fans were already heading for the exits when Sancho collected a pass from Malo Gusto and rifled his strike past Lumley to wrap up Chelsea's third successive league win.
The Southampton fans still in the stands greeted the final whistle with boos.
"I understand that people want their team to win and when they see such a big scoreline and a couple of goals we concede, I understand it," Southampton manager Russell Martin said.
Villa end winless run with nervy win over Brentford
Aston Villa survived a jittery second half to end an eight-match winless streak with a 3-1 home Premier League win over Brentford on Wednesday.
Villa sped into a 3-0 halftime lead but after Mikkel Damsgaard pulled one back early in the second half for Brentford, looked nervy and under pressure and will be relieved their visitors did not add any more goals.
Villa had raced into a comprehensive lead with three goals in a 13-minute burst after Morgan Rogers got their opener in the 21st minute.
An Ollie Watkins penalty and a volleyed effort from fullback Matty Cash added to the tally at Villa Park and saw the hosts enjoy a comfortable lead at the interval.
After finishing fourth last season, Villa had slipped into the bottom half of the table after their weekend loss at Chelsea but Wednesday’s success moved them up to seventh in the standings, ahead of Brentford who slipped to ninth.
Rogers hit a lofted effort into the net at the end of a surging run and a one-two with Watkins to open the scoring.
The home side were awarded a penalty four minutes later when Ethan Pinnock clipped Watkins from behind and the England international got up off the turf to convert the spotkick.
His low shot just evaded Mark Flekken in the Brentford goal as the keeper went the right way and got a touch on the ball but it was not strong enough to keep it out.
Rogers’ cross in the 34th minute was missed by Watkins, who was offside and might have disturbed the goalkeeper’s line of sight, allowing Cash to thunder in the third with a rasping finish from the right. VAR chose not to intervene and the goal was allowed to stand.
Brentford got their goal in the 54th minute as Damsgaard cut inside from the back post to belt the ball in from close range after Yoane Wissa flicked on Bryan Mbeumo’s cross.
Substitute Igor Thiago, working his way back from the knee injury that kept him out of the early part of the season, had a good chance for a second for Brentford in the 72nd minute but got underneath his shot and put it over the bar.
The result continued Brentford’s poor away form, with Thomas Frank's side having earned one point from seven matches on the road, but the Bees remain high on entertainment value with a total of 52 goals in their 14 league games this season – 27 for and 26 against.
