LONDON (AP) — Arsenal reclaimed its five-point lead in the Premier League by outclassing Fulham in a 3-0 win on Sunday.
Gabriel Magalhães, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard scored first-half goals at Craven Cottage to secure a fifth straight victory in the league for Arsenal.
Leandro Trossard provided the assist for all three goals.
Second-place Manchester City had applied pressure on Mikel Arteta’s team by winning 1-0 at Crystal Palace on Saturday, briefly reducing the gap to two points.
Arsenal and City have 11 games left.
There was further good news for Arsenal, with Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus coming off the bench in the 77th for his first appearance since undergoing surgery on Dec. 6 on a medial collateral ligament injury sustained during the World Cup.
Arsenal had already had a goal disallowed for offside following a video review by the time Gabriel headed in a left-wing corner from Trossard in the 21st minute.
The Belgium midfielder set up the second goal five minutes later, too, digging out a cross from the left that Martinelli nodded in after beating Fulham defender Antonee Robinson to the ball.
Trossard completed his hat trick of assists in the second minute of first-half stoppage time but the goal owed more to the technical skill of Odegaard, who brought down the cross into the area, cut inside and smashed a shot past Bernd Leno — Fulham’s former Arsenal goalkeeper.
Tosin Adarabioyo headed the ball against the crossbar off a corner as Fulham came into the match more in the second half.
MANCHESTER UNITED 0, SOUTHAMPTON 0
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United held firm after Casemiro’s second red card in his last three Premier League games to secure a 0-0 draw with last-place Southampton on Sunday.
The Brazil midfielder was sent off in the 34th minute for a studs-up challenge on Carlos Alcaraz that initially earned him a yellow card. The referee changed it to a red after the VAR advised him to look at the incident again on the pitchside monitor.
Casemiro must now serve a four-match ban, given it was his second sending-off of the season. His other was at Crystal Palace on Feb. 4.
Southampton had the better of the chances in Casemiro’s absence, twice hitting the goal frame through James Ward-Prowse — off a trademark curling free kick — and Kyle Walker-Peters and seeing United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka clear the ball of the line.
At the other end, Bruno Fernandes had a long-range shot tipped onto the post by Southampton goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu.
Third-place United moved two points clear of fourth-place Tottenham and has a game in hand.
Southampton stayed in last place, with the bottom nine in the league — up to 12th-place Crystal Palace — separated by just five points.
WEST HAM 1, ASTON VILLA 1
LONDON (AP) — Said Benrahma’s penalty earned West Ham a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa and lifted his team back out of the Premier League’s relegation zone on Sunday.
The Hammers fell behind to Ollie Watkins’ header but Benrahma replied from the spot after Lucas Paqueta was fouled.
West Ham started the day in the bottom three after Bournemouth’s stunning win over Liverpool on Saturday. A victory would have lifted the team into 14th place in a congested bottom half of the standings, but West Ham was unable to find a winner with striker Danny Ings drawing a blank against his old club.
Nonetheless, a draw moved West Ham up to 17th, ahead of Bournemouth on goal difference, and stretched its unbeaten streak against midtable Villa to 10 matches going back to 2015.
The Hammers are the only team in the top flight yet to score in the opening 15 minutes of a match this season, and that trend continued with Nayef Aguerd steering Declan Rice’s free kick wide and Benrahma volleying Jarrod Bowen’s cross over the top.
Instead, against the run of play, Villa took the lead in the 17th minute with its first attempt, with Watkins heading in Alex Moreno’s cross. The goal made Watkins the first Villa player to score in four consecutive away matches in the Premier League since Dwight Yorke in 1998.
West Ham hit back in the 26th after Paqueta’s shot was headed off the line by Watkins. The Brazil midfielder went to retrieve the loose ball and was clumsily brought down by Leon Bailey, with Benrahma confidently converting the penalty high into the net past World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez.
Villa should have gone in at halftime ahead after another penetrating run by Moreno, whose pass found Jacob Ramsey in the box. Ramsey squared the ball to Watkins, four meters out, but West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola spread himself and somehow kept the shot out.
Just 20 seconds after the restart, Paqueta’s cross found Benrahma at the far post but his volley was straight at Martinez. Benrahma was in the mood for more goals and he skipped past Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa on the edge of the area before hitting a fierce drive that Martinez tipped over.
Rice survived a VAR check for a challenge in the area on Emi Buendia which prompted a bout of pushing and shoving, with West Ham’s frustration at Villa’s incessant timewasting beginning to show.
Both teams could have won it late on. Benrahma’s volley at the far post deflected wide off Villa substitute Ashley Young and Jhon Duran’s close-range shot was clutched by Areola.
NEWCASTLE 2, WOLVES 1
NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — Miguel Almiron came off the bench to reignite Newcastle’s Champions League qualification ambitions with the clinching goal in a 2-1 win over Wolverhampton in the Premier League on Sunday.
Newcastle looked like extending its winless run in the league to six games when Wolves substitute Hwang Hee-chan cancelled out Alexander Isak’s first-half opener at St. James’ Park.
Wolves’ players were convinced Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope should have picked up a second red card in three games after a clumsy first-half challenge on Raul Jimenez, and Almiron’s 11th goal of the season only rubbed salt into the wound.
It was just a second win in nine league outings for Newcastle to climb above Liverpool into fifth place.
Newcastle is four points behind fourth-place Tottenham and has two games in hand.
Wolves gradually worked their way into the game as Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves made their presence felt in midfield. The visitors saw concerted appeals for a 20th-minute penalty — and perhaps more — waved away after Pope miscontrolled Sven Botman’s back pass and collided with Jimenez as he attempted to recover.
The striker was bundled to the ground in the process, but referee Andy Madley was unmoved and VAR official Tony Harrington saw no reason to ask him to look again.
Wolves’ disappointment increased within six minutes when, after Fabian Schar had been fouled by Jimenez, Kieran Trippier curled the resulting free kick onto Isak’s head and he sent the ball past goalkeeper Jose Sa.
Only a desperate lunge by Craig Dawson prevented Joe Willock from doubling the lead two minutes later following Isak’s determined run and Max Kilman had to be equally resilient to deny Isak once again.
Willock, Isak and Saint-Maximin all saw shots blocked in quick succession and Bruno Guimaraes headed against the crossbar from Dan Burn’s pull-back as the Magpies laid siege to Sa’s goal. At the other end, Pope was grateful to see Daniel Podence’s 39th-minute strike come back off the foot of his right post six minutes before the break.
In the second half, Tripper was denied by Sa and Neves skied an effort high over as the game continued at breakneck speed, and Pope had to intervene to keep out Moutinho’s 64th-minute shot.
Trippier’s game took a turn for the worse with 20 minutes remaining when he slipped as he attempted to clear inside his own penalty area. With Pope having left his line in an attempt to snuff out the danger, that presented the ball to Hwang to slide into the empty net.
Almiron scored with 11 minutes remaining when he exchanged passes with Willock before curling a shot across Sa and into the net with the help of a touch off Kilman.