Man City claim top spot with Saints win, Villa up to third despite draw

MANCHESTER, England : Manchester City did just enough to beat lowly Southampton 1-0 thanks to an early Erling Haaland goal on Saturday as they provisionally climbed atop the Premier League to tee up Sunday's clash between fellow title contenders Liverpool and Arsenal.

High-flying Aston Villa had to settle for a 1-1 draw with visiting Bournemouth after conceding at the death as late goals were a feature of the afternoon's entertainment.

Brentford clawed back a two-goal deficit to beat 10-man Ipswich Town 4-3 and Wolverhampton Wanderers escaped Brighton & Hove Albion with a 2-2 draw thanks to a stoppage-time equaliser.

Manchester City's Erling Haaland scored an early goal to give the champions a two-point cushion over Liverpool, who are second and visit fourth-placed Arsenal on Sunday.

"I will watch (Sunday's game)," said City manager Pep Guardiola. "I prefer to be on top than not be on top, but it's not the point. Just look what happened today, Villa dropped points and Brighton dropped points because it's so difficult."

While Haaland scored a stunner in Wednesday's 5-0 Champions League thrashing of Sparta Prague, he had gone three Premier League games without a goal before ending that mini-drought in the fifth minute on Saturday.

Wrestling with defender Jan Bednarek, the 24-year-old Norwegian, a master of scoring from tight angles, stabbed the ball into the roof of the net with a toe while falling.

Unai Emery's Villa climbed to third spot, five points off the pace, and stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games in all competitions, although a late Evanilson header for Bournemouth cancelled out Ross Barkley's opener for the dominant hosts.

Villa peppered Bournemouth's goal from the start, squandering several chances before