By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Arsenal squandered the chance to exert some pressure on Premier League leaders Liverpool when they drew 1-1 away at Brighton & Hove Albion, while Chelsea’s challenge continued to falter as they also dropped points at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Liverpool kick off their new year on Sunday at home to Manchester United when they have the chance to move eight points clear of their pursuers with a game in hand.
Reigning champions Manchester City began their year with a second successive victory as something like normal service resumed for Pep Guardiola’s side and Newcastle United closed on the top four with a narrow victory at Tottenham Hotspur.
After an autumnal slump, Arsenal have re-emerged as the most likely side to push Liverpool in the second half of the season and victory at Brighton would have cut the gap to three points.
They looked on course for a fourth successive league win when teenager Ethan Nwaneri gave them a first-half lead but Arsenal were pegged back when Joao Pedro converted a penalty just past the hour mark on the south coast.
Arsenal have 40 points from 20 games, with Liverpool on 45. Chelsea’s 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace left them in fourth place with 36 points from 20 games, one point behind third-placed Nottingham Forest who face Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday.
“We’re playing every three days. I understand how much we want to (win), but in terms of the quality and the consistency and doing the simple things right against a competitive team, we didn’t do enough today,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said.
The 17-year-old Nwaneri has earned rave reviews with some cameo displays for Arsenal and has been given a chance to shine in the absence of the injured Bukayo Saka.
He opened the scoring 16 minutes into his second Premier League start, cutting in and shooting confidently past Bart Verbruggen to reward Arsenal for a strong start.
But Brighton battled back and were awarded a penalty on the hour when Pedro went down after a clash of heads with William Saliba in the area. The Brazilian then calmly dispatched his spot kick beyond David Raya.
Brighton, who are 10th, had chances to take all three points but drew for the sixth time in their last eight league games.
Chelsea’s pre-Christmas surge has run out of steam and they have now taken only two points from their last four games.
Cole Palmer gave them a deserved first-half lead against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park but they failed to kill off the game before Jean-Philippe Mateta’s late leveller for the hosts.
After managing only one win in nine Premier League games, Manchester City have now won their last two and there was a more familiar feel on Saturday as Erling Haaland scored twice in a 4-1 drubbing of West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium.
City are sixth in the table on 34 points, 11 behind Liverpool.
“I am so happy and will sleep better until the next game,” Guardiola said.
Newcastle United made it five wins in a row as they came from going a goal down to beat injury-hit Tottenham.
Tottenham, who have now won only once in their last eight league games, went ahead after four minutes through Dominic Solanke but that lead lasted only two minutes until Anthony Gordon levelled for the visitors.
Alexander Isak bundled in Newcastle’s winner before halftime, meaning he has scored in seven successive Premier League games — netting nine times in that streak.
Newcastle have 35 points, one behind fourth-placed Chelsea, while Tottenham languish in 12th place after their longest run at home without a win (six games) since 2008.
Bournemouth maintained their push for a European spot when they beat Everton 1-0 at home while 19th-placed Leicester City lost a fifth successive league game as Leon Bailey’s late goal earned Aston Villa a 2-1 victory at Villa Park.
Bryan Mbeumo scored twice as Brentford moved into the top half with a 5-0 away victory at bottom club Southampton for whom relegation now looks inevitable. It was Brentford’s biggest winning margin since being promoted to the Premier League.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman)
