Soccer-Arsenal drop points as Villa move on from Gerrard era in style

LEEDS, England : Premier League leaders Arsenal surrendered the lead to draw 1-1 at Southampton on Sunday and drop points for the second time this season while Aston Villa trounced Brentford 4-0 in their first match since manager Steven Gerrard was sacked.

Leicester City continued their revival by thrashing Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 away to ease the pressure on coach Brendan Rodgers but Leeds United boss Jesse Marsch faced calls to go from his own supporters after a 3-1 home defeat by Fulham.

Granit Xhaka scored a superb early goal for Arsenal, who looked untouchable for large parts of their trip to St Mary's but Southampton rallied in the second period and Stuart Armstrong netted a deserved second-half equaliser.

The draw meant Arsenal's four-point lead over second-placed Manchester City from last week was reduced to two points after the champions beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 on Saturday.

Villa parted ways with coach Gerrard on Thursday an hour after their 3-0 defeat by Fulham and gave an emphatic response under caretaker Aaron Danks, taking the lead in the second minute when Leon Bailey hammered home a first-time shot from a well-worked corner.

Striker Danny Ings then scored twice, including a penalty, giving the home side a 3-0 lead after only 14 minutes, while Ollie Watkins added a fourth in the second half to round off a win that lifted Villa to 14th in the standings on 12 points.

Leicester were in a similarly ruthless mood on their trip to Wolves, who sacked Bruno Lage at the start of the month and are still yet to appoint a permanent successor.

Youri Tielemans and Harvey Barnes struck in the first half for Leicester while James Maddison and Jamie Vardy, who scored his first goal of the season, completed the rout in