New signing Leandro Trossard scored his first goal for Premier League leaders Arsenal but they were left frustrated as Ivan Toney secured a deserved 1-1 draw for Brentford on Saturday.
The Belgian forward replaced Gabriel Martinelli just past the hour mark with his side struggling and made an almost instant impact to convert a low cross by Bukayo Saka.
An eight-point lead in the table beckoned for Mikel Arteta’s side but they never looked comfortable against an enterprising Brentford who should have been ahead by halftime.
Toney, guilty of missing a sitter in the first half, pounced in the 72nd minute to nod in Christian Norgaard’s cross.
Despite dropping points for the second week in a row Arsenal lead the table by six points from champions Manchester City with both clubs having played the same amount of games.
Arsenal have 51 points from 21 games with City, who play Aston Villa on Sunday, on 45.
Leicester come from behind to thrash sorry Spurs
Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of securing a Premier League top-four finish suffered another blow as they were thrashed 4-1 by Leicester City on Saturday.
Looking to build on their victory over champions Manchester City last weekend, and chasing a fourth successive win in all competitions, Spurs raced into an early lead at the King Power Stadium through Rodrigo Bentancur’s close-range finish.
The hosts quickly turned the match on its head, however, with Nampalys Mendy hammering an equaliser home in the 23rd minute before James Maddison’s second goal in as many games completed the turnaround two minutes later.
Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho added a third in first-half stoppage time to extend Leicester’s lead, with the timing of that strike seemingly killing off Spurs’ hopes of getting anything from the contest.
The visitors offered very little in attack after the break, with Harvey Barnes adding a fine fourth nine minutes from time, securing Leicester a third successive win in all competitions to move them up to 13th in the standings.
A poor Spurs remain fifth, one point off the top four having played two games more than Newcastle United in fourth, with Eddie Howe’s side in action against Bournemouth later on Saturday.
Struggling Chelsea held 1-1 at West Ham
Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw at West Ham United on Saturday as Joao Felix’s opener was cancelled out by ex-Blues defender Emerson Palmieri, leaving Graham Potter’s expensively assembled team still a long way from a top-four spot.
Felix returned to the team after the on-loan Portuguese winger was sent off in his debut for Chelsea last month and in the 16th minute he side-footed home a pinpoint cross by British record signing Enzo Fernandez, one of the many new faces at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea sought to extend their lead but it was their former wing-back Emerson who equalised in the 28th minute when he arrived unmarked at the far post to meet a headed flick-on by Jarrod Bowen and shoot past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
In a second half of few chances, Tomas Soucek put the ball in the back of the net in the 82nd minute but Declan Rice, who headed the ball on to the Czech, was ruled offside by VAR.
A few minutes later, Chelsea appealed in vain for a penalty, claiming substitute Conor Gallagher’s shot was stopped by Soucek’s hand.
The draw meant Chelsea have now won only one of their last seven league games – and they have not won away since October. They stayed ninth in the table, nine points behind fourth-placed Newcastle who have played a game less.
West Ham climbed up to 15th but are only two points ahead of Everton, the highest placed team in the relegation spots.
Willian, Solomon secure 2-0 win for Fulham over Forest
Goals from Willian and Manor Solomon guided Fulham to a deserved 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in their Premier League fixture at Craven Cottage on Saturday, boosting the London club’s bid for European football next season.
Brazilian forward Willian picked up the ball 12 yards from goal, switched it onto his weaker left foot and curled his shot into the top corner in the 17th minute to net his third goal for Fulham since arriving as a free agent at the start of the season.
The hosts created the better chances in the remainder of the game and doubled their advantage late on when Solomon was played into acres of space in the box and with only Forest goalkeeper Keylor Navas to beat, netted his first goal for the club.
Fulham move up to seventh place with 35 points from their 23 games, while Forest saw their five-game unbeaten streak come to an end as they lie in 14th with 24 points from 22 matches.
The scoreline might have been worse for the visitors had Navas not made a superb stop from Aleksandar Mitrovic in the first half, while Bobby Decordova-Reid struck the crossbar with a thunderous drive from 30-yards.
The visitors’ cause was not helped when they lost both centre backs, Scott McKenna and Willy Boly, to hamstring injuries inside the opening six minutes.
Fulham travel to Brighton & Hove Albion in their next match on Feb. 18, while Forest host Manchester City on the same day.
Ten-man Wolves hit back to stun Southampton
Ten-man Wolverhampton Wanderers came from a goal down to claim a valuable 2-1 victory at Premier League bottom club Southampton with debutant Joao Gomes scoring late on Saturday.
Wolves were trailing to Carlos Alcaraz’s first-half opener and had Mario Lemina sent off in the 27th minute.
But they levelled through Jan Bednarek’s 72nd minute own goal and Gomes struck in the 87th minute.
Southampton remain rooted to the foot of the table with 15 points while Wolves are on the rise and have 23, five points clear of the relegation zone.
Brighton held to 1-1 draw at Palace
Crystal Palace held high-flying Brighton & Hove Albion to a 1-1 draw in the Premier League on Saturday after James Tomkins capitalised on a calamitous error to cancel out Solly March’s opener.
The result leaves Brighton on 35 points in sixth place, while Palace are 12th with Patrick Vieira’s side yet to taste a league victory in 2023.
Brighton, who have not lost this year, were able to break through Palace’s defence numerous times in the first half, with Kaoru Mitoma seeing his angled shot denied by goalkeeper Vicente Guaita while Adam Webster also had a header go wide.
Pervis Estupinan had the ball in the net shortly after the half-hour mark but just as the Ecuadorian full back celebrated what he thought was his first goal for Brighton, VAR came to Palace’s rescue and chalked it off for offside.
The breakthrough finally came in the 63rd minute when March stole past the last defender to skilfully turn in Estupinan’s cross at the far post despite it being at an awkward height.
But Palace levelled when Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez made a mess of a straightforward catch from a set-piece, with the ball bouncing up kindly for Tomkins who headed it into an empty net.
