By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur slugged each other to a standstill in an absorbing 2-2 draw in Sunday’s big Premier League derby and Liverpool maintained their resurgence to move into second place after a victory over West Ham United.
Brighton and Hove Albion shrugged off the midweek disappointment of losing their first-ever European game to move into third place with victory over Bournemouth.
Chelsea’s woes continued as they lost at home to Aston Villa and Sheffield United slumped to the bottom of the table as they suffered a humiliating 8-0 home thrashing by Newcastle United in which eight different Newcastle players scored.
The first north London Premier League derby since 2014 not to feature Harry Kane produced an enthralling contest at The Emirates where the two unbeaten sides went toe-to-toe.
Arsenal twice led, first through Cristian Romero’s 26th-minute own goal, and again thanks to Bukayo Saka’s penalty early in the second half. But Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham earned a deserved point thanks to Son Heung-min’s brace.
“We conceded an unlucky own goal, then a VAR penalty, so it’s not like everything was falling in our favour,” Postecoglou, whose side remain unbeaten after six league games, told reporters. “Just a real character and resilience the boys showed, a real belief in the kind of team we want to be.”
Arsenal, who are also unbeaten, slipped to fifth with 14 points, below fourth-placed Tottenham on goal difference and have an injury concern after record signing Declan Rice went off with a back issue at halftime.
“Today we lacked a certain composure on the ball to be more dominant, get set and get a structure in the game that we needed against a really good Spurs side,” manager Mikel Arteta said.
Liverpool moved into second place, two points behind leaders Manchester City, who have a 100% record, after beating West Ham 3-1 — their fifth successive league win.
West Ham started well but were left to rue some early misses when Mohamed Salah was felled by Nayef Aguerd in the 15th minute and the Egyptian tucked away the penalty.
Jarrod Bowen levelled but Darwin Nunez steered home a superb volley from Alexis Mac Allister’s pass midway through the second half and substitute Diogo Jota sealed the points late on.
After last season’s slump, Juergen Klopp’s side are looking much more like their old selves.
“When we are not playing well we are solid, when we are playing well we are really good,” Klopp said. “That’s how you can get kind of consistency and that’s what we obviously need.”
BOOED OFF
Chelsea were booed off at Stamford Bridge as they lost 1-0 to Aston Villa having been reduced to 10 men when defender Malo Gusto was sent off in the 58th minute.
Ollie Watkins then grabbed the points for Villa with an angled shot — leaving big-spending Chelsea to face the jeers after their worst start since 1978.
“We are a young team that is in process needing to learn altogether. It is difficult to talk about positives because when you lose it is difficult,” manager Mauricio Pochettino, whose side have five points from six games, said.
Villa are up to sixth with 12 points.
Brighton substitute Kaoru Mitoma made an instant impact off the bench as his side came from behind to beat Bournemouth 3-1.
Bournemouth led through Dominic Solanke’s lob after a defensive mistake but Brighton levelled before the break when Billy Gilmour’s cross bounced off defender Milos Kerkez’s head and looped past goalkeeper Neto for an own goal.
Manager Roberto de Zerbi sent on Mitoma and Ansu Fati for the second period and was immediately rewarded as both were involved in a sweeping move which Mitoma converted 17 seconds after the restart. Mitoma then wrapped up the points as Brighton moved above Tottenham and Arsenal with 15 points.
Newcastle ran riot at Sheffield United in the weekend’s final action as they put eight past the hapless Blades — their biggest win in the Premier League since they put eight past Sheffield Wednesday in 1999.
What is more they became the first team in Premier League history to have eight different scorers in a game — Sean Longstaff, Dan Burn, Sven Botman, Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon, Miguel Almiron, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
