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MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Arsenal ended their seven-match Premier League winless streak with a surprise 3-1 London derby win over Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, while Manchester United drew 2-2 at Leicester City.
United, who had won their last 10 away games in the Premier League, remain third with 27 points, one point behind second-placed Leicester.
Liverpool lead the standings with 31 points and have a chance to extend their lead when they take on West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.
Chelsea’s defeat brings them down to sixth place and Aston Villa overtakes them to fifth place after a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace.
Under pressure, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s woes seemed to have escalated with several regulars ruled out for a visit from a Chelsea side that could have come second with a win.
But the Gunners took the lead in the 35th minute on an Alexandre Lacazette penalty after Reece James judged Kieran Tierney in the box.
Nine minutes later, Granit Xhaka fired an unstoppable free kick over the wall and past Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
A visibly frustrated Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, tried to turn the tide at halftime when he replaced German striker Timo Werner with winger Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mateo Kovacic with Jorginho.
But Chelsea still couldn’t get going and Arsenal sealed the win in the 56th minute when Saka floated what looked like a cross over Mendy and the ball hit the far post and entered.
Chelsea scored a consolation goal with five minutes to go when Tammy Abraham converted a Hudson-Odoi cross and could have scared Arsenal even more if Jorginho hadn’t had a soft penalty saved by Bernd Leno.
Marcus Rashford put United ahead in the 23rd minute with a brilliant finish after being slipped by Bruno Fernandes before Harvey Barnes tied eight minutes later with a fine shot from the edge of the area.
Fernandes restored United’s lead in the 79th minute, drilling into the bottom corner after being found inside the box by substitute Edinson Cavani.
Once again, however, the lead was short-lived, as Vardy’s first shot on the half-round from a low center by Ayoze Perez deflected United defender Axel Tuanzebe and earned a point for the Foxes.
Aston Villa took advantage of playing half of the game with 10 men to beat Crystal Palace 3-0.
Bertrand Traore put forward an impressive Villa team early on, but the hosts saw Tyrone Mings sent off shortly before half-time after receiving a second yellow card.
It made little difference as they outscored Palace in the second half with Kortney Hause heading from close range to double their lead in the 66th minute.
Anwar El Ghazi’s rough finish 10 minutes later closed out the points for Villa and they could have won by a greater margin if the post had not rejected Ollie Watkins.
Southampton were frustrated by the wood and a goal disallowed when they were limited to a 0-0 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
After James Ward-Prowse hit the wood with a free throw in the 26th minute, Shane Long and Theo Walcott had efforts turned down for the Saints.
Fulham remains the relegation zone, with 11 points in 18th place, while Southampton is eighth with 25 points.
(Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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