Premier League: Arsenal regains 5-point lead as Liverpool drops more points at Anfield

By Canadian Press on December 3, 2025.

Another win for Arsenal. More misery for Liverpool and its under-fire manager Arne Slot.

While Arsenal accelerated its title charge with a 2-0 victory over Brentford to regain a five-point lead, Liverpool needed a late own-goal just to salvage a 1-1 draw with Sunderland at Anfield.

Slot will be back under pressure, with his team languishing in eighth place and his decision to leave out star forward Mohamed Salah for a second straight game likely to be heavily scrutinized.

Arguably a bigger shock came at Elland Road, where Chelsea fell to a 3-1 loss to Leeds in a blow to its hopes of challenging for the title.

Chelsea dropped to fourth place and nine points adrift of Arsenal, which eased to another home win despite being without the likes of first-choice center backs Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba, who were injured, and beginning the match with stars Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze on the bench.

Saka came on as a substitute and in stoppage time scored the second goal, adding to Mikel Merino’s opener.

Arsenal is seeking its first league title since 2004 and appears to have the requisite squad depth to last the pace this season.

Manchester City is Arsenal’s closest challenger at the moment and won 5-4 at Fulham in a wild match on Tuesday.

In other matches on Wednesday, last-place Wolverhampton remained without a win this campaign after losing 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest. After 14 rounds, Wolves have just two points.

Aston Villa came from 2-0 down to win 4-3 at Brighton, post a fourth straight victory and climb into third place above Chelsea. Ollie Watkins scored twice for Villa.

Crystal Palace beat Burnley 1-0 thanks to Colombia wing back Daniel Munoz’s goal.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Steve Douglas, The Associated Press