Soccer-Merino keeps Arsenal in title hunt, Marmoush scores hat-trick for Man City

LEICESTER, England (Reuters) - Arsenal made light of the absence of any specialist strikers as midfielder Mikel Merino scored both goals in a 2-0 win at Leicester City that kept the north London club's Premier League title challenge very much on track on Saturday.

Merino's brace allowed second-placed Arsenal to cut Liverpool's advantage to four points although the leaders will be confident of replying against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.

Champions Manchester City's title hopes may have long since vanished but they looked much more recognisable as recent signing Omar Marmoush bagged a hat-trick in 13 first-half minutes in a 4-0 rout of Newcastle United.

The win allowed City to climb into fourth place with 44 points, three points behind Nottingham Forest whose top-four ambitions suffered a dent in a 2-1 defeat at Fulham.

Bournemouth's challenge for the top four shows no sign of petering out as they won 3-1 at bottom club Southampton to move above Chelsea and Newcastle into fifth place.

When German forward Kai Havertz was ruled out for the season this week, joining Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Sako on the injured list, Arsenal fans must have feared the worst.

Mikel Arteta gave Raheem Sterling a place in his starting line-up at Leicester but the former Chelsea man had a torrid afternoon and was replaced by Merino after 69 minutes.

The Spaniard's impact was decisive as he broke the deadlock in the 81st minute from an assist by impressive teenager Ethan Nwaneri and he wrapped up the points in the 87th minute after good work by Leandro Trossard.

"I think the game started to suit (Merino) more because they started to defend much deeper, and we had more momentum, more sequences, more set-pieces as well in that period," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told reporters. "We believed that he could impact the game. We were lucky that he did it."

While Arsenal stayed on Liverpool's heels, Leicester's plight is precarious. They are 19th with 17 points after losing nine of their last 10 league matches.

Egyptian Marmoush had not scored for City since his 59 million pounds ($74.25 million) move from Eintracht Frankfurt last month but he opened his account in explosive fashion against Newcastle.

The 26-year-old Marmoush gave City the lead in the 19th minute with a lob after Newcastle defender Kieran Trippier misjudged goalkeeper Ederson's long delivery.

'GOOD FINISHER'

Five minutes later he latched on to a pass from Ilkay Gundogan to fire home and then completed his hat-trick with a thumping shot after good work by Savinho.

"We knew sooner or later he would score goals, he is a good finisher. Of course he has to improve, but now we see how he handles the compliments," manager Pep Guardiola said.

The only blemish for City was Erling Haaland being forced off with an injury.

"I have not spoken to the doctor, but I was scared when he went down. Maybe it's not as bad as it could be," Guardiola said.

Chris Wood scored his 18th league goal of the season for Forest but it could not prevent his side slipping to defeat at Fulham for whom Emile Smith Rowe opened the scoring and Calvin Bassey headed the winner.

Bournemouth moved to fifth with 43 points, just one behind Manchester City, as goals by Dango Ouattara, Ryan Christie and Marcus Tavernier sealed the points in the south coast derby.

Relegation battlers Ipswich Town secured a well-earned point in a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa despite playing the entire second half with 10 men after Axel Tuanzebe was dismissed.

Ipswich still went ahead after the break when Liam Delap steered in Omari Hutchinson's low cross but Ollie Watkins equalised for Villa who dropped to ninth.

Ipswich are in 18th place with 17 points, two behind 17th placed Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Eleventh-placed Brentford beat West Ham United 1-0 away thanks to an early goal by Kevin Schade. They have now won three successive away games in the top flight for the first time ever.

($1 = 0.7946 pounds)

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)