MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City and Aston Villa kept the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal with victories on Sunday.
Nottingham Forest moved further clear of the relegation zone with a 3-0 win at Tottenham, while Sunderland beat Newcastle 1-0 in the Tyne-Wear derby after an own goal from Nick Waltemade.
Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the table to five points with a 2-1 win over Wolves on Saturday. But both of its closest rivals responded with victories a day later, with second-placed City winning 3-0 at Crystal Palace and third-placed Villa coming back twice to beat West Ham 3-2 at the London Stadium.
City are two points behind Arsenal and Villa are one point behind.
Having lost to Palace in the FA Cup final last season, City fought back to take all three points at Selhurst Park.
“They are so strong. Every time we play against them it is so difficult,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “We are still not the top, but we are learning and after what happened, we will be closer in the future.”
Erling Haaland scored his 101st Premier League goal to give City the lead late in the first half, and scored his second of the match from the penalty spot in the 89th minute. The Norwegian scored 36 goals in 27 appearances for club and country in another outstanding scoring season. He is the league's top scorer with 17 goals.
Phil Foden scored another City goal between Haaland's brace.
Rodgers leads Villa's comeback
Morgan Rodgers scored twice in the second half to extend Aston Villa's winning streak to nine games in a row in all competitions and allow Unai Emery's side to keep pace with Arsenal and City.
Villa have lost just one of their last 13 league games and won 10 of their last 11, but twice had to lose in the relegation match against West Ham.
“We feel like we're unstoppable, but we're making it harder for ourselves,” Rogers said. “The fight and resilience we have means we know we can come back against a good team.
“We want to keep it going, it's about confidence and I feel good.”
Mateus Fernandes scored the fastest goal in England's top flight this season to give the home side a 1-0 lead in just 29 seconds. But eight minutes later, an own goal from Konstantinos Mavropanos equalized the score.
Jarrod Bowen then gave West Ham the lead at the break with his second goal in as many games in the 24th match.
Rodgers leveled the game again five minutes after the break and scored the winner in the 79th.
Frank 'on fire' after Spurs humiliate Forest
Pressure is mounting on Tottenham manager Thomas Frank, who was left furious after their latest defeat.
Spurs have won just one of their last seven league games and will face defending champions Liverpool at home next week.
“It’s very annoying, I’m burning inside,” Frank said. “I had such a good feeling going into this game and then we put in a performance like this that wasn't good enough.”
Two goals from Callum Hudson-Odoi at the City Ground set Frank's side on course for another defeat – their sixth in the league this season. Ibrahim Sangare capped a disappointing day for the visitors but a bright one for Forest, who moved five points clear of the relegation zone after Sean Dyche resumed as manager in October.
Forest have won six of their last eight under Dyche, including four in the league.
Woe to Woltemadu, respect to Sunderland
Waltemade endured a harrowing first Tyne-Wear derby since joining Newcastle after his own goal gave Sunderland victory at the Stadium of Light.
The German striker has impressed since joining from Stuttgart for a record $93 million in August. But he became a hero for Newcastle's fiercest rivals Sunderland when he headed past Aaron Ramsdale a minute into the second half.
To make matters worse, Voltemade was virtually non-threatening at the other end of the field, recording one shot before being replaced by Ioane Wissa in the 75th.
“The derby needs to be won, no matter how,” said Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka.
Sunderland are seventh in the league table, level on points with Liverpool.
“This team deserves respect because we are where we are,” Xhaka said.
Calvert-Lewin continues his hot streak
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored for the fourth game in a row as Leeds came back to draw 1–1 with Brentford.
Relegation battle Leeds also extended their unbeaten run to three games.
After a dramatic 3-3 draw with Liverpool last week, Daniel Farke's side came back with another point to lose at Brentford to Jordan Henderson's 70th goal.
Calvert-Lewin's scoring streak played a key role in Leeds' recent win, as he headed in the equalizer in the 82nd after scoring against City, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Leeds are three points above the relegation zone.
