Soccer-Arsenal respond to Man City challenge with narrow win
SOCCER-ENGLAND-ARS-BHA/ (PIX):WRPAUP 1-Soccer-Arsenal respond to Man City challenge with narrow win
LONDON, - Manchester City threw down the gauntlet for the second successive weekend and Arsenal proved undaunted as they kicked off their festive fixtures with a narrow 2-1 defeat of Brighton & Hove Albion to stay as Premier League leaders on Saturday.
City won 2-1 at Nottingham Forest with Rayan Cherki grabbing a goal and an assist to briefly move top of the pile.
But Arsenal, just as they had done last week by beating Everton after City's earlier win over West Ham United, were unwavering as captain Martin Odegaard scored his first goal of the season for Mikel Arteta's side.
Arsenal also needed an own goal and a spectacular save by keeper David Raya to preserve their lead as the halfway point in the Premier League season looms.
The London side have 42 points from 18 games with City on 40 while Aston Villa can also get to 40 if they win the day's late game at Chelsea.
Florian Wirtz scored his first Liverpool goal as they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 on an emotional Anfield afternoon when both sets of fans remembered the late Diogo Jota who died in a car crash in July.
Wirtz doubled Liverpool's lead shortly after Ryan Gravenberch had put them in front although Wolves rallied in the second half and Santiago Bueno pulled a goal back.
Reigning champions Liverpool moved fourth on 32 points while the misery for bottom club Wolves goes on.
They have now broken the Premier League record for winless starts to a season and have two points from 18 games and are 16 points behind fourth-from-bottom Nottingham Forest.
Some timely perspective was offered though in the shape of former Wolves and Liverpool forward Jota's young sons Dinis and Duarte walking out alongside Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk as they acted as mascots.
Burnley stay in 19th place after a 0-0 draw with Everton while 18th-placed West Ham United's relegation fears grew as a 1-0 home defeat by Fulham left them five points from the safety zone.
When Odegaard drilled in a 14th-minute opener for Arsenal and Georginio Rutter's own goal from a Declan Rice corner made it 2-0 shortly after the break, it should have been a routine three points for the hosts.
But Diego Gomez's reply for Brighton changed the complexion of the contest and there was relief at the final whistle as Arsenal cleared another obstacle in the title chase.
"The knock-on effect of winning is incredibly powerful," Arteta said of a victory that should have been easier.
"It should never be 2-1, but that's the Premier League. What I like is that we have a lot of issues, we're dealing with it in an incredible way, yesterday we lost Jurrien , today we lost Calafiori in the warm-up, Declan has to play as a full-back and you see the performance that he put in, so that's the spirit and that's how much our players want it."
City have now won eight in a row in all competitions although they left it late against Forest.
Cherki set up Tijjani Reijnders to give them the lead but it lasted only six minutes as Igor Jesus crossed for Omari Hutchinson to score past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
But Cherki made it 2-1 with a half-volley from a City set-piece in the 83rd minute to give the visitors all three points.
"Winter time, Nottingham Forest away... I know the memory is weak, but when we won one of the six Premier Leagues this type of game happens a lot," City manager Pep Guardiola said.
"Three points, but it's a massive three points, mainly for the quality of the opposition."
Brentford moved into the top eight as they beat Bournemouth 4-1 with a hat-trick for Kevin Schade. Struggling Bournemouth's consolation came from Manchester City target Antoine Semenyo. Emirates Stadium England Arsenal Brighton & Hove Albion
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