Arsenal beat Chelsea, Man Utd denied by Leicester
Arsenal eased fears of being dragged into a relegation struggle with a stunning 3-1 win over Chelsea on Saturday, as Manchester United's Premier Category title challenge stumbled once they conceded a later equaliser to draw at Leicester.
Everton moved into second place, two details behind market leaders Liverpool with a 1-0 be successful at Sheffield United, while Manchester City climbed to fifth place after beating Newcastle 2-0.
Liverpool is going five tips free from Everton if they do better than struggling West Brom on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta led Arsenal to gain the FA Glass the previous time they faced Chelsea in August, but less than five calendar months on the Spaniard was under strong pressure after a run of 1 get in 10 category games.
Arteta had bemoaned his side's fortune in recent weeks, however the Gunners' luck fired up a nights when he gave children Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe the chance to shine in the lack of more experienced numbers such as David Luiz, Willian and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
"It's an extremely big win for us," said Arteta. "Ideally it will be considered a turning point and elevate the amount of self-assurance in the team."
Kieran Tierney won a soft penalty for a thrust by Reece James and Alexandre Lacazette slotted home the spot-kick to open up the scoring on 34 minutes.
Granit Xhaka then answered his critics after being stupidly sent off in a 1-0 defeat by Burnley earlier this month with a brilliant free-kick to double Arsenal's lead right before half-time.
Another consecutive away damage for Chelsea further damage their likelihood of competing for the title and there is no way again for Frank Lampard's men once Bukayo Saka chipped in off the inside of the post 11 minutes after the break.
"It's not sufficient," said Lampard. "The players have got to take responsibility."
Tammy Abraham did move a goal back 5 minutes from time and Chelsea may have set up a grandstand finish in stoppage time, but Jorginho's penalty was saved by Bernd Leno.
Win lifts Arsenal up to 14th, 6 points free from the relegation zone, while Chelsea drop down to sixth on goal difference.
- Man Utd miss out -
Manchester United missed out on equalling a Premier Group record of 11 straight away wins for once this season they payed for not finishing strongly in a dramatic 2-2 sketch.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men had result from about in each of the past away league games this year, but twice went in the front at the King Electric power Stadium through Marcus Rashford midway through the first one half and Bruno Fernandes 11 minutes from time.
"One point is not the worst final result but we live disappointed we didn't escape with 3," said Solskjaer.
Harvey Barnes' blistering reach levelled for Leicester before half-time and United were undone by Jamie Vardy's motion in the box as the veteran striker latched onto Ayoze Perez's combination and saw his shot deflect in from the unlucky Axel Tuanzebe.
At Bramall Street, Gylfi Sigurdsson killed off underneath of the stand Blades on 80 minutes with a clinical finish.
That sealed Everton's fourth successive group win and setup a significant clash with Manchester City on Monday.
"This team has a great deal of soul. I'm really very happy to manage these players," Everton supervisor Carlo Ancelotti said.
City extended their unbeaten group run to 6 matches with an appropriate success at the Etihad Stadium.
Ilkay Gundogan put Pep Guardiola's part in advance in the 14th minute with a close-range surface finish from Raheem Sterling's cross.
City doubled their business lead in the 55th minute after Newcastle's Miguel Almiron gave the ball away just outdoors his own area.
Despite a desperate try to clear by Federico Fernandez, the ball rolled right to Ferran Torres and the Spanish winger fired home.
"This is the tempo we have to play," Guardiola said. "You will find weird results for everyone this season. You need to be calm in the nice and the bad moments."
Aston Villa are another unlikely challenger for the top four as they eased past Crystal Palace 3-0 despite learning the full second half a man down after Tyrone Mings' red greeting card.
Bertrand Traore gave Villa the perfect start but Mings made his teammates work hard for the get when he was sent off for just two clashes with Wilfried Zaha.
Ignoring that setback, Kortney Hause and Anwar El Ghazi twisted up the factors for Villa.
Fulham edged to within a spot of safeness with a 0-0 get aware of Southampton.
