Soccer-Liverpool tighten grip after late show, Arsenal held by Villa

By Martyn Herman

LONDON (Reuters) - Liverpool tightened their grip on top spot in the Premier League as two stoppage-time goals secured a 2-0 victory at Brentford before Arsenal squandered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 home draw with Aston Villa on Saturday.

A day that began with Newcastle United's six-game winning league run ending abruptly with a 4-1 home drubbing by Bournemouth finished with Villa ensuring that none of the five matches resulted in home wins.

Crystal Palace won 2-0 at West Ham United and Fulham beat second-bottom Leicester City 2-0, the hosts' seventh successive league loss.

Liverpool looked set for a third successive draw until substitute Darwin Nunez's stoppage-time double sent them to 50 points from 21 games with second-placed Arsenal on 44 having played one more match.

Brentford were repelling wave after wave of Liverpool attacks before Nunez tapped in Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross from close range in the 91st minute.

He added an emphatic finish two minutes later as Liverpool's 36th and 37th shots finally found the net.

"Of course, I had doubts because, before we scored the two goals, it felt as if I was looking at the same game again and again and again ... so many times in recent weeks, against Tottenham (Hotspur in the League Cup) as well, we missed a lot of chances," Liverpool manager Arne Slot said.

Liverpool's late show was not the news Arsenal wanted ahead of the early evening kickoff but Mikel Arteta's side looked set to pull back to four points behind when Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz scored either side of halftime.

Villa, whose 2-0 win at Arsenal last season proved so costly in the London team's failed attempt to beat Manchester City to the title, again proved a thorn in their side.

Youri Tielemans gave Villa a lifeline with a diving header and Ollie Watkins met a Matty Cash cross with a volley to level eight minutes later.

Arsenal had a late goal ruled out as Havertz deflected in a Mikel Merino volley but VAR deemed it had hit the German's arm.

"Defending the way that we did, especially one of the goals, it cannot be part of our game," Arteta told reporters.

TOOTHLESS HAMMERS

Jean-Philippe Mateta scored twice in the second half as Crystal Palace beat a toothless West Ham United.

Eberechi Eze set up Mateta for his first and Mateta added his second from the penalty spot after West Ham's Konstantinos Mavropanos was sent off for a second yellow card.

In-form Palace climbed to 12th place in the table with 27 points from 22 games, above West Ham who are in 14th with 26.

West Ham did not have a shot on target as new manager Graham Potter got stark evidence of the job he has taken on.

"The better team won on the day and we have a lot to improve and we will do that by sticking together," Potter said.

Bournemouth are up to sixth place, only one point behind fourth-placed Newcastle after Justin Kluivert struck a superb hat-trick in a 4-1 away win.

It was a chastening day for former Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe whose lacklustre Newcastle side were taken apart.

"Physically, we didn't look anywhere near our best levels today, I think the game in midweek and the run of games we had previously caught up with us today," Howe said.

Leicester started brightly against Fulham but second-half strikes from Emile Smith Rowe and Adama Traore mean Ruud van Nisterooy's side remain rooted in the drop zone on 14 points.

"We deserved to be beaten, Fulham were the better team. It was disappointing in all aspects of the game," said Van Nistelrooy, who has won only one league match since being appointed in November.

Nottingham Forest can join Arsenal on 44 points if they beat bottom side Southampton on Sunday when champions Manchester City face Ipswich Town.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)