Arsenal back on top as Man City held to draw in EPL

In a title race that keeps producing twists the pendulum swung back Arsenals way again after a frustrating day for Manchester City in the English Premier LeagueArsenal came from behind twice before scoring two goals in injury time to beat Aston Villa 42 in the early kickoff on Saturday and halt a threegame winless streak in the leagueCity then conceded a secondhalf equalizer and was held at Nottingham Forest to a surprising 11 after wasting chances to put the game away The normally prolific Erling Haaland was guilty of a glaring double miss when he first hit the crossbar and then fired the rebound over the net from close range in the second halfThat all put Arsenal back atop the league standings two points above City and with a game in hand after Pep Guardiolas side went ahead on goal difference on Wednesday following a 31 win over the GunnersWe had amazing chances but its football We have to score Guardiola said It is one of the best games we have played but we drop two pointsAlso Chelseas struggles reached a new low after losing at home against lastplaced Southampton 10 which should ramp up the pressure on manager Graham PotterThe match also had some worrying scenes as Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta sustained a head injury after taking a kick in the face He was carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospitalLiverpool boosted its push for a topfour finish with a 20 win at 10man Newcastle that ended the hosts 17game unbeaten streak in the leagueGUNNERS REBOUNDHaving seen an eightpoint lead slip away Arsenal badly needed to beat Villa and bounce back from the defeat to City midweekIt came thanks to a lucky late bounceAt 22 Jorginhos shot from outside the area in the third minute of injury time struck the crossbar and bounced in off the head of Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to put Mikel Artetas team in front Gabriel Martinelli added the fourth into an empty net after Martinez went up into the Arsenal box in search of an equalizerWe needed a magic moment and Jorginho produced it Arteta said of his new signing who joined from Chelsea in JanuaryNone of Chelseas expensive January signings seem able to produce much of anything at the moment Instead setpiece specialist James WardProwse scored the only goal at Stamford Bridge with a free kick just before the halftime breakThe result comes on the heels of three straight league draws and a 10 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League for Potters side To make matters worse was Azpilicueta lengthy treatment after being hit in the face by an attempted overhead kick by Seacutekou Mara in the 74th minuteAzpilicueta was taken off on a stretcher wearing a neck brace and breathing from an oxygen mask after a 10minute stoppage of playThankfully hes conscious Potter said Hes in hospital He spoke to his wife I believe So were just obviously monitoring and very concerned for him It was not a nice thing to seeBOTTOM TEAMS WINOn a lowscoring afternoon three of the other six midafternoon kickoffs also finished 10Also readUEFA Champions League Borussia Dortmund beats slumping Chelsea 10Fulham beat Brighton away Everton earned a crucial victory over fellow relegation struggler Leeds and Bournemouth won at Wolves A lastgasp equalizer earned Brentford a 11 draw at home against Crystal PalaceSubstitute Manor Solomon scored the 88thminute winner for Fulham to put the London club three points above Brighton in sixth place as the newcomer surprisingly challenges for a European spotIt was an important day at the bottom of the standings as the three teams who started the day in the relegation zone all wonEverton climbed out of the relegation zone thanks to Seamus Colemans secondhalf goal moving two points above 19thplace LeedsBournemouth also moved above West Ham into 17th place after Marcus Tavernier marked his return from injury with the winner against Wolverhampton although the southcoast club could be back in the relegation zone if West Ham earns at least a draw against Tottenham on SundaySouthampton remained in last place three points from safetyLIVERPOOL SURGINGAfter a hugely disappointing first half to the season Liverpool could yet pull off a topfour finishLiverpool followed up its moraleboosting win over rival Everton with a comfortable victory at St James Park in a game that was essentially over halfway through the first halfDarwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo scored before Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope was sent off in the 22nd minute for handling the ball outside the area ruling him out of the teams League Cup final next weekend against Manchester UnitedThe win puts Liverpool six points behind fourthplaced Newcastle having played a game lessLiverpool center back Virgil van Dijk made his return after sitting out for nearly six weeks with a hamstring injury and said he hoped this week could be a turning point for the teamWeve had results in the season where we have felt like this is the time to kick on But this feels a little bit different Van Dijk saidComing away from the big win against Everton it was important to keep going and find a way to winThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever