Arsenal restored their five-point cushion at the Premier League summit on Wednesday night with a composed but unspectacular 2-0 win over Brentford, as a chaotic evening elsewhere saw Chelsea sink deeper into crisis, Liverpool stall again and Aston Villa surge into third.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal required neither fireworks nor fluency to take another assured stride towards ending their 22-year wait for a league title.
What they did need was Mikel Merino, a player transformed into one of the division’s most effective auxiliary forwards, and Bukayo Saka, whose late cameo finally killed Brentford resistance.
Merino, preferred once more to Viktor Gyökeres despite the Swede’s return to fitness, justified Mikel Arteta’s faith with the type of finish that has become his trademark this season. Ben White’s drifting cross invited the run; Merino’s timing, power and conviction supplied the rest as he thundered home his 11th goal of the campaign for club and country.
“It’s unbelievable what he has done again today,” said Arteta. “The movement, the quality, the finish, how he times it ... it’s phenomenal.”
Brentford pressed without hesitation but offered little incision. Saka’s introduction on the hour upped Arsenal’s threat, and deep into stoppage time he finally settled lingering nerves, squeezing a low drive past Caoimhin Kelleher to secure three valuable points.
If Arsenal surged, Chelsea unravelled. Daniel Farke entered the evening under immense pressure after four successive defeats, but his Leeds side delivered a full-throttle response that dragged them out of the relegation zone with a 3-1 win at Elland Road.
Jaka Bijol’s towering header from an Anton Stach corner set the tone after six minutes, and Leeds rode a wave of fervour from the stands to double their lead before half-time through Ao Tanaka’s crisp strike.
Pedro Neto briefly revived Chelsea hopes with a deflected effort early in the second half, but another calamitous defensive lapse – Tosin Adarabioyo robbed deep inside his own penalty area – allowed Dominic Calvert-Lewin to restore Leeds’ cushion. Enzo Maresca cut a chastened figure. “A very poor night,” the Chelsea manager admitted. “They were better than us in all aspects.”
There was little relief at Anfield either. Liverpool required a heavily deflected Nordi Mukiele own-goal to salvage a 1-1 draw against Sunderland, leaving Arne Slot’s side marooned in eighth and steeped in frustration.
Chemsdine Talbi punished Virgil van Dijk’s errant pass to give Sunderland the lead before Florian Wirtz’s late effort, bound for the corner, took its decisive touch off Mukiele. Even then, Sunderland nearly snatched a famous win, Wilson Isidor denied only by Federico Chiesa’s desperate goal-line block.
Aston Villa, by contrast, continued their irresistible climb. Trailing 2-0 at Brighton after Jan Paul van Hecke’s opener and a Pau Torres own-goal, Villa turned the match on its head. Ollie Watkins struck twice in quick succession to ignite the comeback, Amadou Onana headed in from a Matty Cash corner to complete it, and Donyell Malen added a fourth. Van Hecke’s second trimmed the margin, but Brighton fell to their first home defeat of the season.
Elsewhere, Nottingham Forest eased away from danger with a 1-0 win at Wolves – Igor Jesus heading the decisive goal – while Crystal Palace rose to fifth as Daniel Munoz struck the only goal in a 1-0 victory over beleaguered Burnley.
