Liverpool tighten grip after late show, Arsenal held by Villa

LONDON : 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